


Pride and Prejudice and Werewolves

by Mythomanya



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: AU: Jane Austen, AU: Pride and Prejudice, Alpha Derek, Alpha Derek Hale, Creepy Uncle Peter Hale, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Erica Reyes & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, F/M, Homosexuality, Human Stiles Stilinski, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Murder Mystery, Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, Slow Build, Slow Build Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Teen Wolf, Werewolf Isaac Lahey, Werewolves, sterek
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-20
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-02-09 16:50:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1990365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mythomanya/pseuds/Mythomanya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>New neighbors moved in the big house at the end of the street and Scott has a little something for one of them. On the contrary, Stiles got a little bit of hatred for one of them.<br/>All that and Scott getting bitten and turned into a werewolf the night after they met said neighbors for the first time. And, of course, Stiles is the one with enough head on his shoulders to actually deal with all of it and come to the right conclusions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pilot

**Author's Note:**

> So... here’s my kind of Teen Wolf AU of Pride & Prejudice starring Sterek (who else?). So I’ve seen like P&P AUs but I wasn’t satisfied so I told myself “why not” and I made this one. It is not the exact replica of the book, it’s actually more based on it but it took a wild turn because I can’t see things being exactly the same when it’s in the XXI century with werewolves.  
> I hope you’ll enjoy reading this. And I am sorry beforehand for the mistakes that may occur. My main language is French so, sometimes, my English sucks.
> 
> And here is who's representing which character of Pride and Prejudice because this way it'll make much more sense, I think:
> 
> Elizabeth Bennet : Stiles Stilinski  
> William Darcy : Derek Hale  
> Jane Bennet : Scott McCall  
> Charles Bingley : Kira Yukimura  
> Mr. Bennet : John Stilinski  
> Mrs. Bennet : Melissa McCall  
> Lydia Bennet : Lydia Martin  
> Kitty Bennet : Allison Argent  
> Mary Bennet : Danny Mahealani  
> Mr. Wickham: Deucalion  
> Charlotte Lucas : Isaac Lahey  
> Mr. Collins: Peter Hale  
> Mr. Hurst: Vernon Boyd  
> Mrs. Hurst: Erica Reyes  
> Caroline Bingley: Jennifer Blake  
> Georgiana Darcy: Cora Hale

“New neighbors, uh? What about them?” Sheriff Stilinski asked his new wife, Melissa McCall, not looking up from his files, as she announced him the big house at the end of their street finally had people living in it.

“Honestly, nothing much...” she sighed. “Mrs. Young has tried to peek at their backyard, last week, when they were moving, but she didn’t see much beside the fact that they are two young siblings.”

  
“Ok... And if there’s nothing to say, why talk about them?” the Sheriff asked, smiling, knowing there was more coming.

Melissa returned his smile with a more mischievous one.

“If I told you they’re all the age of our two pathetically single sons and that they are girls, would that get your interest?” She asked playfully. “Aren’t you just as fed up as I am to see them spend their summer playing video games without seeing any sunlight?”

At that, John finally looked up at Melissa. He knew he hadn’t married her for nothing. His wife was actually the best at getting something out of their sons. They were both good boys, but even after they had finished high school, they still acted like two dumb twin brothers who couldn’t be separated at any cost and even the Sheriff was starting to worry about their future.  
They had some friends; Lydia, Allison, Isaac and Danny, but the only things they did together were drinking and clubbing, and nobody looked their best on the following mornings of the nights, when they all slept in the Stilinskis basement.

“So, what are you planning, wife of mine?” John asked, trying to hide the hope forming in his head as he thought about his boys finally doing something, besides sitting on their asses.

“Well,” Melissa started, smiling wider, “I happen to have made too many raspberry pies and I’m sure they could help me welcome our new neighbors by bringing them some.”

John chuckled at that.

“They’re going to resent you for how old fashioned and embarrassing that is.” He said, taking her hand in his and gazing at her lovingly.

She gave him a peck before bracing herself, moving toward the basement where their two helpless sons were probably asleep after spending the night gaming.

“Well, I still resent _them_ for keeping us from playing the newlyweds because they couldn’t get their asses of that damn couch!” she countered and, with that, she was gone like a soldier on a mission.

Sheriff Stilinski snorted before going back to his work files.

 

.*.*.*.*.

 

“Man, I got an idea. We could just forget it, eat the pie in a nearby place and just go back home and play CoD.” Stiles said nonchalantly.

He knew his idea wouldn’t get through but it was worth a try.

Scott glared at him. He wouldn’t be the one deceiving his mother. He had gotten his puppy eyes trick somewhere, had he not?

They were on their way to the big house down the street, pie in hand, dragging their feet. They did argue with Melissa, but when she had used the puppy eyes card, neither of them could refuse. Sure, Stiles was used to Scott’s puppy eyes, even if he had never been able to resist it, but Melissa was playing at a whole different level; it was like trying to pass the final boss when you had never beaten the first one and, well, both Scott and Stiles had failed miserably.

They reached the house in no time and stopped in front of the lawn. Stiles had always had the need to stop when he was in front of the house, the biggest and prettiest in Beacon Hills, to stare at it in all its glory. The house was huge and its exterior was made of real fucking stones, like a castle. It was twice the size of their own house at least. The windows were wide and if it weren’t for the thick drapes hiding the inside, they would be able to see everything inside. It was definitely ostentatious, but very pretty. It had been unlived in for at least the last five years and had been on sale all this time. It was a surprise to everyone when they heard it had been bought.  
Stiles and Scott hadn’t been that interested in it after hearing it had been sold though, because only rich high class people would have bought it and they were probably old, so neither of them had bothered. But, surely, if they had passed them on the street (which was unlikely) they would have greeted them like anybody else.

Scott was the first one to take a step forward. Stiles wanted it done ASAP but he also tried to avoid awkward situation as much as possible because they tended to get worse when he was around, so he wasn’t really looking forward to that one. At least he wasn’t alone, so he followed Scott to the front door. When Scott hesitated to knock, Stiles took the last step and just did it, harder than he intended, and went to hide behind Scott like the real bro he was.

They waited only a moment before an Asian girl, long hair tied up, wearing black shorts and a grey t-shirt with a t-rex doing push-ups opened the door.  
She seemed to hesitate before talking, but then her eyes fell on Scott who literally beamed at her with his bright smile.

“Hm, yes?” she said, tossing a strand of hair behind her ear. “Can I help you?”

Then it was silent. Stiles had expected Scott to talk. The girl seemed to expect the same from him. But Scott, being himself, was only smiling goofily at her, so Stiles took it in his own hand and saved his bro’s ass before it became way too awkward.

“So, hey, nice to meet you! I’m Stiles and this guy here is Scott, my brother. Well... my step bro but that should be obvious if you look a bit closely... anyway! We’re your neighbor from down the street,” he pointed at their house, “you see the white house with the black rooftop and the army of garden gnomes? That’s us. Well, we decided to come and greet you in the neighborhood by bringing you a little something...” And with that he nudged Scott hard in the ribs so the guy would get his game on because so far he wasn’t doing a great job. At least the girl didn’t seem too put off by his creepy mesmerized stare.

The nudge seemed to have the intented effect because Scott snapped out of it and looked at his hands which were holding the pie.  
He seemed to also remember how to use his words.

“Yes, we’ve got a present, that’s right” he said, a bit nervous. “Here,” he shoved the pie in the girl’s hands a bit more harshly than intended, “my mom baked you a pie. I’m Scott by the way, what’s your name?”

Stiles had to hide his face in his hands no to cringe at Scott’s awkwardness. And _Stiles_ was the expert of awkward.

But the girl just smiled back at Scott, a thousand watts smile after which she looked down at her shoes, shyly.

“I’m Kira. Just moved here with my family... well you know that obviously,” she answered, looking at the welcome pie in her hands.  
After that, the silence fell on them, making the moment more awkward than it already was. After a moment, Kira spoke again, “Well, it was nice meeting you and all and thanks for the pie, I’m sure everybody will love it. But, I kinda have to get back to... you know, unpacking.”

With that she made a move to close the door. She was stopped by Scott who finally decided to do something about his crush at first sight.

“Well, if you ever have the time tomorrow, would you like to come hang out at the club with our friends, or we could maybe show you around or something...”

 _Wow, that’s bold, Scotty-boy,_ Stiles thought to himself. From the look on Kira’s face, this was not too bold, though. She looked pleased and also like she was having an inner battle as which answer was the right one, but in no way did she look like she was about to reject him.

“Well...” she finally spoke again, “can I bring some friends of mine along?” She asked, hesitating.

Scott, who had been pretty sure he would be turned down, got the goofiest of goofy smiles to ever have goofied ever.

“Sure! No problem! See you tomorrow then! Around ten at the Temple, downtown, on Fourth street?” he said, barely containing his excitement.

“Sure.”

And with that, Kira closed the door, her shy smile still on her face.

 

.*.*.*.*.

 

After that first encounter, everything went really fast. Of course, Scott suffered from love at first sight (Stiles thought _crush at first sight_ fitted more but hey, who was he to say if Scott was in love or not).  
Just as he and Stiles made their way home, he couldn’t stop talking about Kira, even if they had just talked for two minutes and stared at each other another two. The guy was so cute that, had it been anyone else, Stiles would have found any excuse to just avoid talking to him. But since he and Scott were friends since even before Stiles mother’s death, he couldn’t let his best friend drown in his emotions.

So they talked about her and about what they would be doing the next night and they called Lydia, Isaac, Danny and Allison to make sure everyone would be there too.

The next morning, Melissa came back from some grocery shopping with new gossips about Kira. She had gone alone in her car and went back with three persons, meaning there were five people in the house. Five young people: Three girls and two boys.  
When he heard that, Scott seemed to deflate. Chances were one of the two boys might be going out with Kira, unless they were her brothers. They would know that night if Scott stood a chance.

The boys spent the day trying to get Scott’s mind off of Kira because he had had an asthma attack that morning due to the fact that he was too nervous about not having a chance with her.

They played some video games and watched a movie but Stiles literally had to drag Scott out of the house and jog with him to actually have him thinking about something else, (or, well, nothing at all, but still, it worked).

Around nine, they went to Lydia’s place to pick her, Isaac and Allison up (with Melissa’s car because everyone beside Stiles was afraid to get in his jeep) and by the time the girls were ready to get going, it was almost ten and Scott got anxious all over again. He didn’t want to get late to the club and have Kira think he had played her.

“Scott... if you get another asthma attack we might have to get you to the hospital and you really will stand her up, so you should really relax, now” Allison said, trying to soothe him.

Worst of it probably was that it worked and Stiles thanked her mentally for that. They arrived there five minutes late and when they got inside (because there were no lines for a club in a small town like Beacon Hills) they didn’t see any trace of Kira or her mysterious friends.

They all got to the table they usually occupied, where Danny was already seated, and the guy who was taking care of the music spotted them, waving before putting on one of the playlist he had in store just for when they were over.  
Needn’t to say, they were over a lot.

As soon as the first song started, Lydia and Allison left the table for the dance floor. Scott and Danny followed while Isaac and Stiles took their time sipping on drinks before joining them. By the time Kira’s party got there too, the club was filled with people but that didn’t keep anyone from staring as the last of them got in: Kira, wearing a black skirt, black tights and a red tank top, two other girls and two guys following her.

One of the girls had long blond curly hair and clear blue eyes and she wore a high fashion white dress opened on her back with black high heels. The other also had blue eyes but her hair was straight dark brown and she wore tights black jeans and a royal blue tank top.  
As for the guys, one was a dark skinned guy, as tall as he was bulky (he looked like a football player) wearing a grey t-shirt with black pants. The other guy was tanned and had black hair and he was as bulky as the black guy, but a bit smaller. He had sunglasses on his face and wore an olive t-shirt and dark blue extremely skinny jeans.  
Weirdly enough, they all wore leather jacket except for Kira and the brunette.

Kira spotted Scott almost right away, waved at him and started to make her way to him. Her friends seemed reluctant but followed her even so. Allison and Lydia kept dancing, uncaring of the new party arriving, while Stiles, Scott and Isaac went to meet them.  
When they reached each other, Scott was the first to talk.

“Hey, Kira!”

His stupid adoring smile reached Kira’s face in no time.

“Scott, hey! What’s up?” She replied, placing a strand of her hair behind her ear like she had when they had met the previous day.

“I wasn’t sure you would come!” He replied/shouted over the music, sounding happy and relieved at the same time “So you remember Stiles, right?” He said, making a move toward his bro.  
They waved and smiled at each other (Kira looked way less shy than with him than with Scott, Stiles noted).  
“And that guy beside him is Isaac” he continued as Kira laid her eyes on him.

Isaac smiled and proposed they moved to their table so they could talk more easily. Nobody seemed against the idea so they all made their way to said table.  
When they were all seated, Isaac asked Kira who her friends were, which Stiles was glad for because he was a bit intimidated by her four utterly silent friends, who were kind of impressively good looking.

“So, this is my sister Erica and her boyfriend Boyd” she said, pointing toward the blonde who smiled and greeted them warmly and the tall black dude who just nodded at them, with a little quirk at the corner of his mouth which should count as a smile “and my other sister Jennifer” she made a move toward the brunette who simply nodded before looking at the crowd, probably for something more interesting. “And this big guy over there” she pointed with her thumb toward the guy wearing sunglasses “is my best friend Derek.” Hadn’t it been for the movement of his head, Stiles would have sworn the guy didn’t acknowledge them at all.

After that, discussions started in the group, Scott obviously giving all his attention to Kira, Isaac and Stiles talking to Erica and Boyd (but mostly Erica) while Derek and Jennifer just looked through the crowd.  
After a while, Stiles couldn’t stop glancing at them because he was uncomfortable with total silence from strangers. So he told himself _fuck it_ and went ahead of what bugged him the most since they had sat down.

“Dude, don’t you want to, like, take your glasses off or something? Can you see anything at all? Are you actually blind and I’m being accidentally rude?” He asked, sure these were all legitimate questions.  
Without even taking said glasses off, Derek turned his head toward Stiles and only one of his (frigging thick) eyebrows rose. Even without seeing the guy’s eyes, Stiles still stared back at him (which was very uncomfortable since he mainly saw his reflection in the glasses).  
“Come on, dude. You can’t tell me you are that comfortable with those things on your face all the time. Also, it’s creepy as hell trying to talk to someone when all you can see is your own face. Plus, seeing how much of your face is covered by it, I’m not even sure I would recognize you if I ever met you without it... which could be the point if you think about it, BUT! It would be kind of nice of you to show your face...” Stiles ended gracelessly.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw that Jennifer had covered her mouth, which didn’t hide the amusement from her face at all. She was either laughing because she thought Stiles was funny or because she was mocking his lame attempt at interacting with what looked like the most unsociable guy of the universe.  
Said guy whose second eyebrow had joined the first somewhere in his hairline.  
The conversations at the table had died as the others had started to take interest at the one-sided conversation Stiles got into (probably because Scott and Isaac were as intrigued as he was by the guy’s face and the others because they were curious of Derek’s reaction). The atmosphere got a little tense (mainly because Derek still hadn’t said anything) until Kira got it on herself to break it.

“Sorry Stiles, Derek is a bit shy” Erica snorted at that, proving it was kind of bullshit from Kira, but Stiles let it pass “he’s not trying to be rude or anything...” the cackle that got out of Erica’s mouth at that point busted Kira’s lie so much that she actually turned away while she told it.

But she was sweet and Stiles wasn’t the one who was going to bust his best friend chances with her. So he stood up.

“Ok, then, I am going to dance because that’s actually why I’m here, so see ya later guys!” and with that he was gone. Luckily, Isaac wasn’t far behind as he never went dancing without him and vice and versa.

When they reached the other side of the room, Stiles stopped himself.

“Well, that was smooth, Stilinski!” Isaac shouted over the music.

Stiles shrugged before smiling mischievously. Isaac looked at him, daring him to just _think_ about it but, too late; hearing the first notes of _Footloose_ , Stiles decided it was time to get his _Smooth moves_ out.  
Those were the ones he reserved for Isaac when he wanted to annoy him. It all started one drunken night when they were on the early stage of their friendship. At first it had been Isaac who had started it, but Stiles was the one who had made it a tradition and whenever one started dancing the _Smooth moves_ on _Footloose_ the other had to follow. It was the compilation of the most lame dance moves since the ‘80s and it only happened when that particular song was playing.  
So, against his will, Isaac started to dance with Stiles. By the end though he was laughing hard because Stiles had taken the liberty to research for new moves and he had kept them for his final so it would soothe Isaac’s annoyance at him.

They danced three other songs and then they looked back at their table to see Lydia, Danny and Allison had joined their party but Derek and Erica weren’t there anymore. Lydia was in a conversation with Jennifer while the others were doing drinking games.  
Isaac and Stiles went back to the table, the first sitting graciously beside Allison while the other dropped loudly beside Scott.

“So...” Stiles started, “where did Broody McBrood and Erica go?”

That won him an unimpressed glare from Boyd, who said nothing otherwise, while Kira gave him an apologetic look (and Jennifer didn’t react at all because she would’ve to have been listening and it didn’t seem like her type, apparently).

“They went dancing” Kira replied before turning back to the game.

With that, Stiles and Isaac joined the game.

 

.*.*.*.*.

 

“You totally should’ve stopped drinking when I told you to!” Stiles exclaimed as he dragged Scott outside, way less tipsy than him, but tipsy nonetheless.

He was dragging Scott through the alley beside the bar, planning on getting home by foot since neither of them was in any state to drive his baby.  
Anyway, it would take more or less half an hour to get home, so no worries.  
Danny had offered to drive them but if one had said yes, the other would have had to walk all alone and it was so not okay so Scott and Stiles had sacrificed themselves to the cause of walking (sure they could have fitted another person in the car, but being the Sheriff children, they couldn’t possibly be caught doing something against the law, as small of an infraction as it could be).

They were still in the alley when Stiles realized he had forgotten his phone at their table. He laid Scott against the wall and told him to wait for him while he returned inside to get his phone.  
When he got there, he realized his phone was gone but not Kira and her friends, so surely someone could tell him what had happened to it. As he got closer, he started to hear their conversation (at this hour there wasn’t that much people left at the club and the music wasn’t as loud as when the dance floor was crowded).

“Didn’t you have at least a bit of fun?” Kira was asking Derek and Jennifer, looking like she was pleading for her cause.

“Sure...” Jennifer said, “If being talked about boring nerd stuff is your definition of fun...”

He didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but he was sincerely curious as what Kira’s friends had to say about his friends and, well, he saw Derek’s glasses on the table and that was enough for him to wait and get all the information he wanted to have that night.

“Don’t say that, they were so funny! Man, that Stiles guy is the funniest drunk I have ever met. In fact, just what he told Derek even _before_ he was drunk makes him the funniest person ever.” Erica told them, a wicked smile stapled on her face.

Kira’s face seemed to lighten up at that.

“Totally! And Scott is so sweet. I was so scared he would be a douche. And they were all so good looking too...” she answered, but from her expression, it was clear she was thinking about one specific guy while saying that.

Surprisingly enough, it didn’t go unheard by Derek, though.

“They were all cute enough, but have you seen that Stiles kid. Not sure you can put him in the “good looking” part of your speech.

Well, ok, wow, _rude_.  
Stiles had been curious but that little (not) boost of self esteem turned him off. He put the fakest smile he could ever show on his face and made the rest of the way to the table.

“Hey guys!” He shouted, startling everyone. By the way Kira, Boyd and Erica looked guilty, they, at least, appreciated him a bit even if they might be agreeing with Derek. “I think I forgot my phone, has anyone seen it?” He asked, full of false cheerfulness.

At that, Boyd got up and took it out of his back pocket.

“Is this your phone? I thought it was Scott’s...” He said.

“Nope, that’s mine. We switch phone before getting in the club so we can prevent the other from making weird drunken mistakes with it.” He answered simply before reaching for it. “Thanks.” He discretely sighed while putting it in his back pocket before going on with the cheerful act that only served as to guilt trip a certain person who was intently looking at the crowd. Said person hadn’t put their sunglasses back on though so Stiles saw that they had amazingly green eyes. Such a shame that person was a jerk. “So, I’m going to leave now because I left Scott in the alley and he needs my ugly face to drag his ass back home. So, hopefully, I’ll see you soon guys!”

And with that, he left without looking back and with the impression that guilt was practically leaking from Derek.

He went back outside and found Scott at the same place he had left him, asleep against the wall. He woke him up and they left the place.

They’d been walking for a good fifteen minutes by the time they reached a little path in the wood, which was the shortcut they always used to get home on the too drunk nights.  
Scott was singing Kira’s praise. He was being a loud happy drunk and Stiles was also having fun with all the stupid nonsense he was uttering, forgetting what Derek had said about him, when he heard something like a low growl.  
At first he thought it was his drunken state that made him imagine wildlife animals sounds, but then he heard it again, louder this time. Stiles stilled and Scott, unaware, tried to continue walking on his own, which resulted in him face planting in a puddle.

With a “dammit” mumbled under his breath, Stiles quickly reached for his bro before said bro drowned himself in a three centimeters deep puddle. While doing so, he heard another growl, longer and way louder than before and he started to panic because it meant the animal was getting closer. And with Scott not helping at all, only giggling as Stiles tried desperately to get him on his feet, the feeling got only worst.

“Let’s go, Scotty boy. Help me here please!” The last part was shouted as he yanked his helpless drunk brother on his feet and started to drag him hastily across the woods.

They made no more than six meters before something bumped into them. _Hard._ It disappeared in the woods instantly after the impact, but it was enough for Stiles to start full on panicking while he fell on his ass. Scott, who had miraculously stayed on his feet, looked down at Stiles with a mix of fear and surprise in his eyes.

“Stiles... what was that?” He asked, unsure.

Before an answer had the chance to pass Stiles’ lips, however, the animal came back.  
This time, it didn’t just bump them. It literally snapped at Scott’s left arm and started to drag him in the woods.

Without thinking, Stiles got up, faster than he could have done in his actual state if it hadn’t been for the adrenaline coursing in his veins, and went after them. He couldn’t possibly let his best friend get dragged by who knew what without attempting to rescue him. So he ran, _fast_ , following the sound of Scott crying and calling for help.

Surprisingly enough, after what felt hours of chasing, but were probably only minutes, Stiles managed to get to Scott, who was all alone in the middle of the woods, sobbing while holding his arm close to his chest.  
Suddenly aware of how vulnerable they both were, Stiles crouched beside Scott and whispered to him:

“Are you okay? Show me your arm” and with that he took the arm one which Scott was gripping and saw a bloody bite mark (the blood had also stained Scott’s shirt). “Okay buddy, you might want to leave this forest. _Now **.”**_

And with that he put an arm around Scott’s torso and Scott’s arm over his shoulders and started dragging him as quickly as he could while Scott sobbed drunkenly because he didn’t understand what had just happened. Needn’t to say they were both surprised and relieved when they got out of the woods and took the direction of their house without another attack.  
They finally got back home around two in the morning. They made enough noise so much they were panicked, they actually woke their parents up.  
When Melissa and John saw the state of Scott’s arm and shirt and the state of panic him and Stiles were in, they cut short on the angry rant about being discreet while getting in in the middle of the night and Melissa took her keys while John told them both to get in the car. As they made their way to the hospital, the boys told them what had happened on their way home.

They didn’t get out of there before the morning and they went to the station to make a statement about the attack of a wild animal they didn’t even see clearly.

The night was long for everyone and the great time at the club was forgotten by Stiles and Scott for a while.  
But, when they got back home, before both of them went to sleep (Scott had had a shot against the rabies and other infections you can get by animal bites, but he seemed ok otherwise) Scott mumbled something about hoping Kira hadn’t been attacked before he dropped dead on his sheets.

Stiles smiled to himself as he made his way to his own bedroom. _Nothing_ _can get you down from your cloud, right, Scotty._


	2. What an asshole...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott and Stiles realize Scott has become a werewolf, the new guys also did and there's a little one on one between Stiles and Derek that let them with ambiguous feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait.  
> If I am honest with myself, releasing a chapter once a month is something I could do better than once a week. There's not a lot of action yet, but be sure to stay tuned because I ain't no Jane Austen and I really like when there's a bit of violence.

It was gone and Stiles and Scott were freaking out.    
The doctor had told Scott to clean the bite twice a day and Stiles had volunteered to help him do so because he was the best bro ever.

But it was the afternoon after the attack and the bite was gone. Totally gone. No scar, no mark. _Nothing_.             
And well, it had been a bite of ten centimeters wide or so. That kind of thing couldn’t just disappear like that. It was just impossible.

Scott suggested they had imagined the whole thing the night before because of all the drinks they had, but Stiles hadn’t been as drunk as Scott. Anyway, drunkards didn’t have collective hallucinations. It took something way stronger to give collective hallucinations than some beers. Stiles’ guess was that Scott had been bitten by a werewolf.     
When he said it, both of them burst into laughter.

They joked about it all day.

Although, even if he had been joking when he said it, Stiles couldn’t help but keep an eye on his brother. Who was acting kinda _weird_.

The first hint of something being out of the ordinary had been the food craving. Not that Scott didn’t eat plenty of food, but the amount he had eaten just on breakfast was almost twice what he usually ate. Also, he would stop in motion because he heard something that Stiles hadn’t heard. He did it all day and the more he did it the more Stiles started to be uneasy about it.  
Another thing was the sniffing and touching. Not that they didn’t have any physical contact; growing up together, they didn’t have the same limit on physical contacts as other male friends tended to have, but that day, Scott was literally in Stiles’ space way more than he usually would.      
And that wasn’t even the weird part.       
Nope. The weird part was Stiles dropping something, being his usual self, and Scott actually snatching it in thin air, preventing its fall and demise. And he hadn’t even been close to Stiles a second ago, he was certain of it. (Needless to say it had startled _both_ of them in the weirdest way)      
There was also the incident of when they went jogging: Scott didn’t even use his inhalator once, he suddenly could see better without his glasses and he actually kept up better with jogging than Stiles, which had never happened so far.

Worst of it, and the best proof, might still be what had happened when they had gotten home and showered; Scott had wrinkled his nose at his bedroom and actually had started to clean it. And not cleaning in “picking up dirty laundry off the floor-cleaning”, but literally doing his spring cleaning in the middle of July.  
And Scott never did the cleaning in his room. Like in never _ever._ (It had also been remarkably fast for someone who never did it)

And it was fact enough for Stiles that he actually had to talk himself down from just go into full panic mode.  
Of course, Scott had to make him freak out way more by actually sensing his dismay, like a dog would sense fear on its owner.

“Stiles... are you okay?” Scott asked, putting a hand on Stiles’ shoulder.

They were in the kitchen, fishing some snacks from the refrigerator.

“Yeah...” He sighed. It was still the same old Scott, even if he might (stress on the _might_ ,please) suddenly turn a killing machine. “It’s just... yunno... the thing I said this morning...?” He looked into those brown eyes to search for understanding, which he found, before going on, “well... I’m not sure it’s just a joke anymore...” He said in a little voice, hoping Scott wouldn’t hear it.

Because hearing it would be another proof. So, of course, Scott did hear it. And laughed. Hard. Until he realized Stiles wasn’t joking.

“Are you serious? What the hell, Stiles?”

Stiles let a sigh out.

“Dude, I don’t want to be the one judging your new found abilities, but you’ve never _ever_ been faster than me at jogging before. Hell, you passed _Jackson frigging Whittemore_ while he was jogging at full capacity. I’m not saying you never could do that, but it’s not a one day achievement!”

Scott frowned at that. He didn’t look pleased. In fact, he looked pissed and hurt. But he was also thinking about what Stiles had just told him. It didn’t make that much sense because _werewolf?!_ but his newfound abilities weren’t that much plausible either. In fact, they were even less likely to happen.

“It’s totally ridiculous!” Scott exclaimed after a while. “There’s no way I’m a werewolf... there’s no way in hell werewolves even exist, Stiles!”

Scott definitely whined while saying Stiles’ name which meant he was seeing the right in Stiles’ assumptions but he didn’t want to believe it (so did Stiles).

“Do you want to try to see if I am right? Because this is so crazy I’m almost sure I am wrong... but, dude! Nothing makes sense right now...”          
He passed a hand over his eyes. This situation was weird and scary because if he was right, his brother was a werewolf, but if he was wrong then he was an idiot and he couldn’t decide which one he would rather have.   
“Gimme your hand” he said, extending his.

Without any question, Scott reached toward Stiles extended hand. He watched skeptically as Stiles took a spoon from the silverwares drawer and put it in the hand he had just given willingly.             
The effect was instantaneous. Scott _brown_ eyes flashed a bright _yellow_ as he tore his hand away from Stiles’ and dropped the spoon like it was on fire. He stared at said burned hand in disbelief. Stiles got closer to look at it and got the same expression on his face. There was a burn mark the shape of the _spoon’s_ _handle_. _And it was slowly disappearing like it had never been there_.         
The two boys stared in bewilderment as the last traces of the mark faded.

“Dude,” Scott said in a mute tone “your heart is beating damn fast...”

At that, a nervous laugh got out of Stiles’ mouth.

“ _Dude_! _You’re hearing my heartbeat!_ You’re a werewolf! Your eyes fucking GLOWED YELLOW! You hurt yourself on a silver spoon and the marks _just disappeared_!” they both could hear the panic in Stiles’ voice at that moment “I think my heart is entitled to beat a little bit faster than usual...”

After that they both kept quiet while they navigated to the basement where they watched some random show on the television.       
Neither of them would talk about it as both were trying to process what Scott being a werewolf could change in their lives.           
Needless to say the answer was _everything_.

 

.*.*.*.*.

 

Kira was in adoration with this Scott kid and Erica couldn’t stop talking about Stiles as such a cool guy after only _one night_ and it was grating on Derek’s nerves. His only solace at the moment was Jennifer since she was as much uninterested with this bunch of mere _humans_ , might he add _teenagers,_ as he was.

Ok, maybe he was being a bit harsh... Scott had been very sweet with Kira and his friends had been more agreeable than he would have expected.

But maybe he wasn’t that harsh since they were only a bunch of stupid humans who were blissfully unaware of how dangerous the place they were in was (infested with werewolves and faes _and_ vampires... he couldn’t picture just _how_ they could have gotten an assigned place in that kind of bar without being thrown out or killed...). But Kira liked them so he tried to make himself scarce since he didn’t want to upset her with his indifference toward her new frequentations.

As to explain why he followed her the second time she told them all they were going to see Scott and his friends was a great mystery, even to him. She had argued with him until he gave up and told her he would be there. She wanted him to get more friends and to get to know hers since they were cool. And he was trying to know them. He had spent the first night listening to everything and everyone at the same time to know if he had to get Kira out of a bad situation. She wouldn’t realize it by herself until too late. For the moment everything was at the very least ok though.    
He wasn’t thrilled but he wasn’t totally turned off by those teenagers. There might even be one annoyingly chatty teenager with a pair of fine whiskey eyes filled with a clever spark in them that caught his attention at the end of that night...

Thinking back, he felt ashamed. Mostly because the guy had managed to sneak up on a bunch of werewolves, a kitsune and a druid, which might be unheard of.  
Nothing related to the way he had told everyone how he found the kid ugly. (Practically) in his face. And that by the time the kid had really left his opinion had already changed on the matter.

Well... at least he just found his eyes kinda cute and nothing else that could be much more embarrassing. The kid had shown some wit but it was nothing unexpected from a teenager...            
(Ok... they were all around 18 or something like Kira but! well... Kira was different... She was a kitsune and his friend, for god’s sake!)

Anyways, it might have taken less coercing than usual for him to tag along and go see them, but nobody seemed to realize or care, except maybe for Jennifer... who seemed pretty interested on Derek’s every moves these days.

That night, they went to bowling. Derek couldn’t stop asking himself “why bowling” but since it made Kira happy, he put that thought in the back of his head. At least he would have some pretty eyes to look at if he were to ever be bored... ok no he wouldn’t do that. Stiles was so bothersome that even his eyes weren’t enough to keep Derek’s attention. He would have Jennifer to talk to. She was pretty, intelligent and someone from his world. He might make a move on her if she ever smelled too much like arousal around him. She had been giving off some weak scents of it recently and, well, he was thirty and still single and a wolf that age without a mate got lonely.

The two groups planned to get there around 7pm. This time, Kira was so nervous she forced everyone to get there early because they had been late last time they had met (Erica tried to tell Kira that being late to bowling wasn’t really being late but Kira wouldn’t hear any of it). They stayed in front of the place since Scott had told them Lydia could manage some cheaper prices for everyone.       
Fortunately, they didn’t have to wait long. Five minutes later, a car got into the parking: a pale blue Jeep which was making _so much noises_ Derek was even amazed it could still run (but he wasn’t surprised at all to see that it was Stiles’). Stiles and Scott, of course, got out of it. Stiles got closer and started to go on about the four others wanting to go get some ice cream before getting there when he stopped in his track and turned his attention to Scott.  
At the same time, Derek tensed and the others around him as well. Scott’s eyes shone a bright yellow. His eyes were fixed on them and his mouth was opened on sharp fangs as he let out a low snarl.

The only things Derek got to think were “What the fuck?” and “Oh shit, really?” before Scott pounced in his direction.

 

.*.*.*.*.

 

Everything went very fast; one minute Scott was getting out of the other side of the car and Stiles took on him to explain why the others were late, the second Scott had ran past him in a flash and was jumping at Derek’s throat.          
Stiles didn’t even think, he just ran after Scott in the attempt to reach him and get him out of his own mess before people realized he had become some furry beast overnight.             
But when he shouted Scott’s name, his best friend glanced at him and he was totally deformed: his face was all wrinkled, his eyes were glowing, his claws were fully out, he had new sideburns (wait, _what?_ ) and he looked menacing. It made Stiles stop for all of one second though, because it was still Scott.

Surprisingly, he didn’t have to do anything to help Derek, who had turned into a werewolf too (really now?), and just pushed Scott back with all his strength, which meant getting him flying across the parking (which, _wow..._ ). And anyone would have thought it was enough to calm Scott down, but he just came back and that was when things got really interesting because Kira seemed to snap out of her frozen state and just walked right to Scott. When he turned to see who was trying to sneak on him, he saw her and he suddenly changed back to his old self.  
Everyone was silent after that, staring at each other in total surprise.         
_Un_ surprisingly, Stiles broke the silence. He had been staring at Derek until he had changed back to human.

“Dude... where the heck do your eyebrows go when you change?” he asked, because, really, it was probably the thing that disturbed him the most.

Derek just looked at him like he couldn’t believe it was the first question he was asked after changing in front of him (and that might be a justified reaction).  
Suddenly, Erica was laughing and all the tension broke.

“Well, you asked just the right question!” She said when she calmed down. “It is one of the greatest mysteries of our kind...” and with that, she moved toward the entrance of the building, telling something about going to the toilet. Boyd followed her with all the detachment in the world.

“So...” Kira started, looking at Scott like she was somewhat relieved _or something_. “You’re a werewolf?” She sort of asked Scott, who just nodded. “But you weren’t last time we saw each other...” she got another nod.

With that, she shrugged and a wide smile spread on her face. She took Scott’s arm and led him toward the door, starting to talk to him like nothing had happened.  
Which left Stiles, Derek and Jennifer to wait for the four others.      
In an awkward silence.       
This would have been funny if it wasn’t for the fact that Derek was also a werewolf and everyone seemed to be fine with everything and it was soooooo weird that it made Stiles nervous.

As Stiles was yet again going to say something amazingly ridiculous to break the silence, Derek of all people beat him to it.

“You should be more scared.” He said, judging Stiles _hard_.

Stiles just rolled his eyes.

“Of course _you_ would rather have me scared shitless of your werewolf ass than just accepting it. This way I can’t give you any reasons to hate me...” For good measures, he rolled his eyes again.

And just left without waiting to see what Derek’s reaction was _because he couldn’t care less_.

It might be stupid to turn your back to a guy who you just learned was a werewolf but, _hey_ , Stiles had just made a point of showing the guy he wasn’t scared of him at all. Being cautious now would be counterproductive.

At this moment, Danny, Lydia, Allison and Isaac arrived in Danny’s Civic. Which was just a relief to Stiles because they would be able to get past all the werewolf business for a little while. He waved at them, smiling brightly, while they parked. They got out of the car and they all went inside, everyone asking Stiles with their eyes why he was out with Derek _and_ Jennifer when he had sworn not long ago that he wouldn’t be seen alone with those two even under threats.

He just shrugged and they accepted it because they might as well do that. Nobody cared to see if the two others were following them.          
They were surprised, though, when they realized they were.

 

.*.*.*.*.

 

Their night had gone weirdly uneventful after the whole “weredrama”. There hadn’t been any awkward silence because silence was only a thing for Derek and Jennifer (and Boyd but he was still more engaged in the whole social thing than the two others). They had taken two alleys: the first one was team Scott and Stiles against team Kira and Derek while the second was team Lydia, Allison and Danny against Isaac, Erica and Boyd. Jennifer had called out of the game as soon as they realized they were an uneven number, claiming she didn’t mind not playing at all (and everyone believed her because she had incredible nails and surely she didn’t want to break it). She even extended the courtesy to literally leave and go back to their place.  
Even with the heavy presence of Derek, the others still had lot of fun. What might have been even funnier was how Stiles and Scott beat Derek and Kira (but that was Stiles opinion). Derek had thrown some angry stares their way and Stiles was gleeful while Scott was too enamored with Kira’s every move to even care about winning. However, Stiles’ glee quickly vanished because Scott had had an idea. A brilliant idea, especially coming from Scott. But probably his worst idea ever if you took Stiles into the equation.

“Do you think” Scott had started, sounding so unsure that Stiles knew he wouldn’t like it “that I could borrow the Jeep to take Kira somewhere?”

That got Stiles the bitterest look he’d ever used on Scott. They both knew that Stiles wouldn’t say no but it was a pretty cheap shot from Scott because they had encountered a werewolf in the woods just the night before and Stiles would have to walk through them.    
Sure, Scott could drop Stiles home, but when Scott was into someone, he got all weirdly sweet and Stiles couldn’t take it and they both knew it. He had had a thing for Allison for a whole year or so and Stiles hadn’t talked to him that often that year (their parents weren’t married yet) because he was too uncomfortable with Scott. At least that had allowed Stiles to make friends with Isaac, Lydia and Danny. But in the end, that meant Stiles would take the werewolf over Scott newly in love every day.             
Without a word he took the keys out of his pocket and placed them in Scott’s hand with all the force he could manage. And Scott didn’t even have the grace to fake a flinch or something. He just grinned stupidly at Stiles before turning toward Kira and getting out with her, not even glancing at Stiles to be sure everything was okay.             
In the meantime, everybody else had left so he was all alone and couldn’t even _try_ to get a lift from Danny. Hell, even _Derek_ might have been a good option as a chauffeur.             
Yup, he had that kind of friends, apparently.

Since at this point nothing could be really changed, Stiles just went on with it and got out of the place. He felt a bit left out since all his friends had left without him but he didn’t mind that much. He didn’t feel like being with them. (Okay, he minded a lot but thinking about it made him feel too bad to be worth it, so he tossed it in the back of his mind almost instantly)   
Also, as much as he had shrugged it off, all the weird supernatural revelations were a huge thing to swallow once he took the time to think about it, which he was finally taking time to do. There was definitely some weird stuff going on in their town:

First, a gang of werewolves, probably a pack, moved on their street.

Second, a werewolf bit his best friend the night of said werewolves’ arrival.

Third, mother fucking werewolves were real?!

And everyone had left him all alone with that. At least Allison, Danny, Isaac and Lydia weren’t aware of that yet. This was a creepy part of Stiles’ life he would have been glad to avoid.

He hadn’t been walking long when he heard footsteps behind him. It got his senses in alert in no time. He started to imagine the werewolf from the night before was back, tracking him to finish the job on someone else since he had failed to kill Scott. After a while though, Derek stepped beside him like he couldn’t even be bothered by the fact he had worked Stiles very fucking close to a panic attack.

“Didn’t you say you weren’t scared?” Derek asked as he raised one of his friggingly thick eyebrows.

That did the trick to kill Stiles panic. It got him angry instead.

“Are you fucking serious? Because yesterday Scott was fucking attacked by a werewolf while we were alone in the dark so fuck you I’m not scared of you but I’m scared enough, thank you.”

Derek didn’t deign to answer that, which pleased Stiles a little bit. He didn’t glance at him to see his reaction because he couldn’t care less, but not being alone while walking in the dark was very reassuring, especially when your bodyguard happened to be a werewolf.

Unless...

“Do you remember what color were his eyes?” Derek asked out of the blue, just as Stiles was about to voice some accusations.

That made him think. Because everything had happened so fast. He hadn’t thought back that much about it, his brain doing its work by avoiding the traumatic memories of his first encounter with a wolf-man. But he pushed his self-preservation instincts away and tried to think back really hard about what he had seen.   
What came back to his mind was a large form, some movements in the trees, the feeling of being observed all the way to their house after the attack. The clear full moon in the sky. The stars shining bright because there were no clouds in the sky when they had left the bar. The lack of cars on the road.

He thought really hard about it, but he remembered nothing of what the werewolf had looked like.

“Sorry...” he finally said, looking at his feet for some reason “it was too dark and I couldn’t see anything...”

He sighed. Thinking about how useless he was in this situation was a bit depressing.

“Werewolves are fast, you shouldn’t worry about it.”

That startled Stiles.  
Was Derek trying to comfort him?            
That seemed unlikely and pretty much out of character so Stiles ignored it to indulge into his curiosity; he might as well do so since they had at least half an hour of walking left and he had many questions about all those werewolves’ things.

“Sooo... are you guys a wolf pack or something?” was his first question. He kind of cringed while saying it because: really, that was the way he chose to say it?

He felt more than he saw Derek’s heavy glare on him, probably because he was purposely avoiding it.             
He was however surprised again by Derek who answered his question.

“We are a _were_ wolf pack...”

“And is it built like a wolf pack? Like an alpha, a beta, some deltas and an omega?” Stiles asked quickly again, attempting to keep Derek from falling back into silence when he was giving him answers.

“Yes.” Derek sighed. There was a moment of silence where Stiles thought the werewolf had dropped the subject, but he defied everything Stiles had previously thought about him by giving him information on his own volition. “Kira is my beta, Erica and Boyd are my deltas and Jennifer is my omega...”

“And you’re all werewolves?”

“No...”

“Are there any werewolves in your werewolves’ pack?”

“Yes, Stiles, there are werewolves in my werewolves’ pack...” Derek exclaimed, sounding annoyed. He was in no position to be bitching about it though, he wouldn’t get stupid questions if he was answering more. “Erica, Boyd and I are werewolves. Kira’s a kitsune, a –”

“A type of yōkai, which are supernatural creatures from the Japanese folklore, and in the case of the kitsune, they are supposed to be super intelligent, have longer life than humans and they have some sort of magical powers...” Stiles recited, as if he were some kind of dictionary.

At that, Derek literally stopped walking to look at Stiles like a new head had grown out from his body. His eyebrows were expressing a very great amount of surprise.  
After a moment he shook himself and went on with his explanation.

“... Kira is a kitsune and Jennifer is a druid.” He finished, moving his feet again, a little faster than before.

Stiles made a face at that because the way he imagined druids consisted of virgin sacrifices, trees and long bearded dudes.           
He followed Derek as quickly as he could because he didn’t feel like being left behind. The rest of the walk was silent on both sides. Stiles was registering all the new information and Derek was just being a little bit impressed by Stiles. Because even without having been raised in the same world as Derek, he still knew those things Derek hadn’t even cared about when he was twenty. But, weirdly enough, he was a bit fond of Stiles at the moment. As much as he was acting like an idiot, he had shown some intelligence that Derek hadn’t suspected and if one thing, Derek had always liked to be positively surprised by people.

When they finally got to their street, Stiles realized he hadn’t even asked why Derek had walked with him instead of going with his friends. When he did so, Derek looked down at him like he was a complete idiot, or something.

“Jen took my car to get home and Boyd’s car has only two places...” he answered with the most condescending tone Stiles had ever heard used on him, beside maybe his chemistry high school teacher’s.

Stiles went right past the big ass house making a line toward his, thinking Derek would just get home like any other normal person. But, surprisingly enough, Derek followed him to his front door, which Stiles found a bit creepy and also embarrassing.

“Dude... no need to follow me down here.”

“Don’t call me ‘dude’” Derek said, voice colder than ever “and I followed you to ensure no other stupid wolf attack would fall on me because someone’s idiotic brother didn’t make it home last night.”

And with that, the guy strolled off toward his own house.

Well... what an asshole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go, second chapter posted exactly a month later!  
> I tried very hard to post it before midnight and I am sorry if there are any mistakes left, I kinda half felt asleep on it (not because it was boring, don't worry) so if you see any, feel free to tell me so I will change it.
> 
> [EDIT]  
> I forgot to explain why I decided to make the whole "alpha, beta, delta, omega" thing. Because, as much as I like the way they only used three out of the numerous ranks of wolf packs hierarchy, there's actually more to it and an omega isn't actually a stray/alone wolf
> 
> Delta: "The Delta wolf is a wolf in training for Beta position. They are third in rank to Alpha and Beta. Delta's do not hold the authority to call medium or large Hunts. That is a privilege to only ranked Alphas and Betas. Deltas usually become the next Beta after training is complete but one can remain Delta without moving to Beta position. When this is the case, if ever the current Beta is removed from their rank, steps down, changes rank, or leaves the pack, the Delta may take the place as the new Beta at the Alpha's request. There can be many Deltas"
> 
> Omega: "The Omega of the pack is lowest ranking wolf. The Omega is usually a young wolf that is very new to pack life and still learning, a wolf that has been lowered in rank due to wrong actions, or a Re-Evaluated Wolf (one who left the Pack once and was accepted back into the Pack after a period of re-evaluation)."
> 
> Definitions taken here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1559039-werewolves-packs-and-info
> 
> So that's why I made it this way (because it made more sense to me)
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!!


	3. Well, shit...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles starts researching werewolves and encounters a creepy guy while doing so; Scott and Kira are cute; the Hale pack is nice except for Derek, who's is still a confusing asshole, and Jennifer, who's in fact like a bomb ready to explode at any moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I. AM. SO. SORRY. THIS TOOK ME OVER A YEAR.  
> I've been guilt tripping myself all year to continue this story and I finally finished the third chapter (hurray!)...  
> Also, I've planned the entirety of the fic so I MIGHT be able to actually keep my word of updating it pretty often. (But december is near and so are my finals so it might get more frequent AFTER Christmas. I hope I'll at least give you chapter 4 before getting drowned in school related stuff again)
> 
> LOVE YOU GUYS AND SORRY FOR THE WAIT!!

For the following two weeks, Kira was pretty much always at their place and Scott would go to hers as often. They were so enamored that it was almost impossible to get some alone time with either of them (read Scott here). At least Kira was a really nice girl and Stiles liked her very much. Also, if you were to ask Stiles, he would tell that this relationship was way better than when Allison and Scott were dating. It was way too intense for a high school relationship and really unhealthy. Both of them had been way too obsessed with each other, forgetting to live and see the world around them.              
They had reached a point where they got so engrossed that they started to hate each other. It had ended up badly and it took them years of having the same friends and unwillingly seeing each other way too often before they got over it and started being friends again. And they were an amazing team as friends. One might have said that Allison was in fact Scott’s second best friend.      
On the contrary, Kira and Scott gave off a really sweet vibe and they weren’t too intense and out of it because of their infatuation. Yes, they were always together, but they were also taking their time and they never cut anyone out of their time together. If you had something planned and one of them (mostly Scott) forgot about it, he would just make room for all the people and not lose himself too fast like in the past. Stiles was proud of his bro and he liked Kira way more for just the fact that she never minded the addition.   
Of course he didn’t always get in the way of their sparkling romance, but he felt more at ease if he could check on them together once in a while. Also, he never stayed too long.            
After Allison, this down to earth romance was pretty much what Scott needed.

However, while Scott and Kira were off into the sunset, Stiles was mostly spending his time alone. Of course, he could have hanged out with anybody else, but instead, he started researching about the werewolves and other supernatural creatures.          
At first, he obviously started looking on the internet, but what he found was mostly RPG forums and Supernatural fanpages and Tumblrs. In the end, he had no choice but to go to the Public Beacon Hills Library. He could’ve gone to an esoteric place where they sold wicca stuff and all about supernatural things, but that meant spending money he didn’t have, so to the library he went.            
One day, as he was scrolling for the fortieth time the Esoteric section, blasting some Limp Bizkit on his Ipod, he felt a hand landing on his shoulder. Three things happened simultaneously after that: he elbowed the hand’s owner in the solar plexus, eliciting a groan from said owner, while he also dropped the books he had been holding on his own foot and finished it by banging his forehead hard on one of the shelves in a failed attempt to turn around to see who scared the living shit out of his body. He got dizzy a moment but he still searched for the culprit, the world still a spinning chaos around him. When he finally got back to his senses, he saw that the answer to his question wasn’t what he had expected at all.          
It was a man in his late thirties, kinda built for a man of this age range, brown hair and pale blue eyes, who was rubbing his chest while glaring at him.

“For someone so scrawny, you sure hit hard…” said the man, clearly out of breath because of the accidentally well placed elbow.

Stiles just stared at him in disbelief.

“I’m sorry about the hit, but you were the one to get me by surprise, you know…” That won him a heated glare from the man so he changed the subject. “Anyway, why did you decide today was a good day to come creep behind “scrawny”me?”

The stranger raised a single eyebrow at Stiles’ question, either because he thought Stiles was funny… or stupid? Or maybe a little bit of both.

“Well,” the man began “I was looking for a specific book and I think I saw it in your hands so I was about to ask you if you would mind letting me have it… since you seem like you have a considerable amount of books at your table already.” The man pointed towards Stiles’ seat where three stacks of books about ancient folklore, mystical creatures and mythology were waiting for him.

“I’ve finished the others and I’m getting started on this one, so maybe later…” Stiles replied after pondering on the question. He was feeling uneasy around the man, he couldn’t exactly explain why except by saying he got a gut feeling, and since he was all about his instincts (sometimes) he intended on getting as far from the man as humanly possible. As soon as possible.         
When he saw the deep frown that appeared on the man face, he still felt obliged to let him search through his piles since he wouldn’t let him have the book. So they went to Stiles’ table and Stiles sat down his chair while the man sat in front of him and started scanning the first book he got his hands on.   He didn’t keep it up for long though. Maybe ten minutes of that and then he started fixing his attention on Stiles, obviously trying to intimidate him so he would give the book. After a while in that uncomfortable silence, Stiles took a decision and stood up.

“Well,” he said “it’s been a pleasant unpleasant moment with you, but I’m gonna leave with the book because I need it and I haven’t finished reading it yet”. The statement was met with and ice cold stare. sNot wanting to give in, Stiles swallowed his fear and went on, feigning indifference: “I will be done with it soon, so if you want it, you might want to do what anybody else would do and make a reservation so you won’t have to wait too long…”

And with that, he took off quickly for the loan counter, not wanting to give the stranger a chance to talk back and being really glad that they were in a crowded and silent public space.        
He was probably being an asshole, but something bothered him about the guy, other than the threatening looks, and he didn’t feel like giving him what he wanted.            
He quickly rented the book and let himself out of the library, making a beeline for his jeep. He had to keep himself from speeding on his way home, especially when he exited the library’s parking and found the stranger waiting there, apparently to cross the road. He proved Stiles wrong when he stared straight at him, anger sparkling in his eyes, making the blue of it way more apparent than before – .

When he finally arrived home, he was relieved to find Scott and Kira already in the basement, playing Mario Kart and inviting him to join them. He put the events of the afternoon away to enjoy his time with them and didn’t think about it until he went to his bedroom to sleep and saw the book again. Then, the only thing that came to his mind was that, even though he witnessed a werewolf fight AND a werewolf attack not so long ago, that day’s incident was probably more disturbing than anything else that had ever happened to him.

 

.*.*.*.*.

 

They all received the invitation to a barbeque at the werewolves den (though only Scott and Stiles were aware of the werewolf part and only Stiles called it a “den”). It was for the next Saturday evening and they received the invitations through officials letters, with the Hale crest used as a wax seal for it. When Scott and Stiles found the letter, the latter couldn’t keep himself from stating that only “a pretentious bastard could sent an invite for a barbeque via a wax sealed letter and that Facebook had been invented for that kind of purpose”. Scott gave up on listening to the rambling when he got to the part about saving trees. It was just the lack of appreciation for a certain broody werewolf talking, at that point.

Anyway, they went, Stiles agreeing on it after learning that all their other friends were also invited.             
Scott had chosen to wear black short and a white tank top – showing the tattoo on his arm and his building muscles –, while Stiles opted for a pair of red skinny jeans, a white t-shirt and a marine flannel, hoping nobody would realize it had a sailor feel to it.           
When they got there, realization really dawned on Stiles because he was literally walking into the wolves’ den and it wasn’t just a joke. Scott’s unaffected behavior about all this had lulled his common sense, but at the moment, he didn’t feel quite right about getting inside the house of a bunch of mythical creatures that were all considered dangerous. Even knowing that Scott was there all the time didn’t really reassure him, nor the fact that none of them had ever attempted to harm anyone, from what he knew (which couldn’t be said about Scott).              
Something was really bothering him as they got closer to the house and even Scott, whose werewolf keen sense hadn’t made less obtuse to Stiles’ emotional distraught than before the change, picked up on his uneasiness. Since he had made it all the way to their home (more like because Scott made a pleading face), Stiles still went in, intending on having fun that night. But he was very wary.

Erica was the one to open the door, wearing her usual sexy black clothes and being beautiful as ever.

Unsurprisingly, the inside was as impressive as the outside. Just the hall was very large with a white marble floor and a very high ceiling and also a set of very large stairs made of stones. There was a giant Persian rug thrown between the door and the stairs and some bamboo and bonsai placed everywhere with a large fish tank full of tropical fishes in the middle of the place. It was actually pretty weird if you took the design into account, but it could have been a very nice hall otherwise.

As they made their way inside, Erica showed a knowing smile and asked them what they thought of the place so far.

“Cool...” said Scott, because he was too busy looking for Kira to pay attention to the scenery.

“There’s either a lack of armors guarding the inside or there need to be more wooden doors and less stone walls… it feels like someone couldn’t decide if they wanted to hunt dragons or fight samurai…” Stiles said, not even worried about the fact that every inhabitant of the house could probably hear him with their super powers (except for maybe Jennifer).

When they got to the backyard though, he knew right away that she had decided of the interior design and that somebody had sold him out to her (he was betting on Boyd because the guy wore a sly smile that he had never seen on his face before). She was almost shooting lasers at him with her eyes and looked very scary with her witchy clothes and her angry stare; she might not have liked his comments. She went on and walked right past him, back into the house, leaving in her trail some kind of sparks which made Stiles worry for his safety and also look around to see if anyone had seen it (hopefully, none of his friends did). Naturally, it made Erica snicker.

After greeting everyone with a small wave, Stiles looked straight at Boyd and told him “you could have not told her”.

It made the guy, who was wearing black jeans and a purple t-shirt with a white BBQ apron covering it, grin mischievously at him. “I could have…” he replied in an unconcerned tone and, with that, turned to continue flipping burgers and hot dogs on the barbeque.

After that, Stiles turned away from him to see that Scott had already found Kira, who wore a brown school girl skirt and a pink shirt, and they had gone a bit farther from the rest of the group while Erica had joined Isaac and Allison near the pool, already down to their swimsuits. Derek was sitting in one of the long chairs on the other side of the pool, sporting his usual tight black jeans and grey Henley, which, to Stiles regret, were very flattering on him. The only ones missing were Lydia and Danny, who were expected any minutes now.       
They arrived some time later, bringing cheap wine and tequila, which grumpy face eyed with much disdain. Disdain which, of course, seemed to be shared by Jennifer, who had joined them once again after the arrival of Danny and Lydia.

That aside, everything else went well. They ate the really tasty burgers Boyd made (Stiles actually shed a tear over his first bite and had to hide his face so no one would see), they went into the pool for a while and even Derek got so far as to dip his feet (but Jennifer kept her distance and was obviously judging them all) and Stiles unconsciously stared at Derek’s overly fit body until he sensed he was stared back at. Came a time when Erica and Boyd disappeared somewhere into the house and Scott and Kira went into a recluse spot of the backyard again so they could talk and look at the stars. Danny and Isaac were playing volleyball (yes, the backyard was as enormous as the house) and Lydia had tentatively engaged in a discussion with Jennifer, who was faking indifference but looked kinda more interested than usual into what was said to her.

That’s how Stiles got to sit awkwardly beside Derek, a glass ok rhum & coke in his hand (which, of course, Derek couldn’t help but glare at like it had offended him personally), not talking.         
Well, actually, he had sat alone at first, a little bit away from Derek, and the guy himself had decided to change spot from beside Jennifer to beside him. And say nothing. And Stiles being himself, he couldn’t stand awkward silences very well.

“So… I’ve been looking for stuff about you guys these days” he said awkwardly, not knowing what else he could’ve talked about.            
Derek raised a single eyebrow at that, looking kinda curious but also like he had a bad feeling about it.        
“So far, I just found stuff I’ve already seen in…” he looked around to make sure only Derek was listening “any werewolf movie ever and I seriously cannot believe that they could be correct on everything they show us. We can overlook the fact about shape shifting because I’ve already seen that. But what about silver bullet? Or silver anything for a fact. Are they really like, 90% deadly to you all? And wolfsbane? Why is it always only those two specific things and not like, I don’t know, chocolate? I mean, dogs cannot tolerate chocolate, so I don’t see why werewolves couldn’t be chocolate intolerant. Also, do you change shape and go into the woods, sniffing for the right mushrooms to eat?”       
At that, Derek, who’d already lost his openly neutral face to a somewhat unimpressed glare, groaned.         
“Ok! Ok! Sorry dude” Stiles blurted out. “I didn’t mean to annoy you. But those are legitimate questions. What if I gave Scott chocolate and he got poisoned. The only thing that could keep that from happening was if you guys really had a super immune system. And how would I know by books written by humans and by TV shows and movies: those things aren’t even accurate when it’s about things they have real informations about. Do I look like a werewolf?”

Without even realizing it, he had made his point because Derek’s sour expression became less tense.             
“Sorry,” he mumbled very low, but Stiles heard him anyway. “And yeah, that stuff is mostly true… beside the chocolate part, we aren’t dogs, we are humans with wolf genes…” his annoyed face came back while saying that. “I can’t explain the whys to you because I don’t know and I can’t tell you I like mushrooms more than humans because I’m a born werewolf. You might want to ask Erica or Boyd for that part.”

“Well they aren’t around now” he gestured the whole backyard for emphasis “so I’ll take you instead”.       
He couldn’t have explained it, but Derek’s face seemed to melt into a poker face at that. Maybe he was trying to be civil and not show obvious disdain. Well, fuck him, Stiles thought, he had many more questions and no one else to ask right now so he was stuck with the spastic, annoying kid.      
“Also, you told me about pack hierarchy the other night, but what about pack politics? Can there be too many members in one pack? Do you have barbaric death laws like any good animal related species tend to be shown? Are you dangerous? Are you more out of control with the moon or is it just a myth? I mean Scott and you both shifted when there wasn’t any moon so maybe? Or…”

“Stiles!” Derek suddenly exclaimed, sounding annoyed all over again.

“What?” an obviously surprised Stiles answered.

“I can’t fucking answer all those questions at once and you started to raise your voice” Derek practically growled. “Anyway, that’s none of your business at all.” He replied, apparently insulted by the last questions. “But I can tell you we aren’t any more dangerous than any person carrying a gun wherever they go, even if many would like to have you believe we are.” He rose up and stretched his arms behind his back. “Now, that’s the last piece of infos I give you. You don’t need to know that and I don’t have to tell you anything more about us when you could get us in deep shit just by knowing a little too much”. And he left just like that, strolling toward the house, not caring about how rude he had just been, _again_.

Not entirely deterred, Stiles still took the opportunity to test what he knew, per say that werewolves had a fucking great hearing capacity.

“Hey fucker… I wanted to ask again where your eyebrows go when you shift? You look like a goblin without those on…”

He got the satisfaction to hear Erica cackle from somewhere in the house, which meant Derek most certainly heard him.       
Then, he also got up and made a move towards Lydia and Jennifer, wanting to save Lydia from what looked like a heated discussion when Jennifer suddenly rose and made some kind of blue fire sparkles out of her hand. In an instant, the summer air got cold and Lydia went motionless, eyes riveted on the flame as Jennifer raise her hand in an evident threat. Everybody saw it but nobody moved because they were all startled by what was happening.       
Except for Stiles who, without realizing it, marched right in front of Jennifer, not even looking at the flame, just glaring her with all the anger he could muster in one look. No fucking way this bitch would threaten one of his best friends.

“You will put that back where it came from right now and you will never, ever try to lay a hand on my friend ever again. Is that clear or do I have to make a bigger statement.” He asked through his teeth, having never felt so furious in his life.

The druid looked at him with disregard.      
“Oh yeah, and what are you gonna do against me? You’re only a human” she smiled at him dangerously.

He got scared for maybe five seconds but then his protective instincts got over it.         
“I will fight for her no matter what better weapons you think you have, even if I have to die for her so you better lose the fucking fire because I’m not the one who’s going to stop you if it’s ever needed and you know it” he spat out and she actually flinched at that, thinking probably about what would happen if her alpha had to intervene.

The fire went away like it had never been there and Jennifer didn’t lose a second before rushing into the house, apparently furious, judging by the red aura that was seeping out of her body.  
Behind her, the backyard was way more silent than during their confrontation and Stiles suddenly felt like their pleasant gathering was over.

“So… that was fun” he said with sarcasm evident in his voice, pausing, and thinking about his next move. Then a “…I’m fucking out of here” left his mouth without a warning. With that said, he didn’t think twice before moving on with his program.

He thought about his friends for maybe two seconds, but he knew that at least Lydia would be right behind him. He only turned back when he reached the front door and saw that all his friends and even Kira had followed. He let them out and only went through the door himself after the others, not without catching a glimpse of Derek staring at him, thus making sure to slam the door behind him.

 

.*.*.*.*.

 

Once Kira leaves with her friends, the atmosphere didn’t get less tense in the house. Boyd and Erica chose to stay where they were, which was wise of them, and didn’t intend to get between Derek and Jennifer, judging by their quick pulses and the clear “no fucking way I’m going down” Erica muttered to her boyfriend.

Jennifer wasn’t hard to find: he just had to either follow the traces of her magic to the basement or go to the basement anyway because she always hid there when she got upset.

He reached the basement’s door and didn’t even consider knocking; he just threw it open, almost tearing it off its hinges.

“What the fuck Jen?” he said through his teeth, eyes turning crimson red and almost shifting on spot.       

“WHAT?” she shouted, still fuming.

Derek’s brows creased in what could be the angriest expression he ever sported.          
“Don’t “what” me!” he barked at her. “You sold us out!”          

As he was about to go on, he sensed the distress and the fear on Jennifer and realized he had started shifting because of the anger and had also cornered her in the back of the room like she was his pray. He backed off and took many deep breaths, calming down and mostly turning back to his human form.              
When he thought he wouldn’t lose it again and that Jennifer wasn’t too scared anymore, he started to talk again.              
“I thought you were smarter than that Jen…” he sighed “how could you do this?” to the pack, he left unsaid. It was clear enough anyway.

Finally looking up from the floor she had been staring at since his chaotic entrance, some fire got back in her eyes as she answered.             
“This bitch is just a human! She had no right to defy me like she did. Like she’s so much more than I am” she spat out at him.

His facial traits hardened at her answer.

“We all know you’re stronger than her Jen. Doesn’t mean you’re _better_ …” He let out another sigh; feeling really tired all of the sudden. “You know we’ll have to move out again, right?” She lost all her fire at that, replaced by guilt. “Hope you’re glad, because the next time, _you’re_ leaving…” and with that he left her, a bit lost and reeking of guilt and resentment.

They had moved so often in the past five years because of everybody’s slips (but mostly hers) that they had tried very hard for this house, the perfect house for a werewolf pack, to be their last home. They were all tired to move every two months or so. Five was big for a pack nowadays, what with all the hunters finding any excuses to kill them on the spot, not matter how well behaved they were. They tried as much as they could to stay low profile, but Jennifer always seemed to lose it over her temper, to use her magic at any quarrel or problem they encountered. He was feeling guilty be she was become more and more of a threat for the pack’s safety and he couldn’t allow anything to happen to them or to the humans. Like what could’ve happen to Lydia or Stiles.

The thought of them brought him back to how Stiles had defended his friend. He was deeply impressed by him.              
Stiles, who was a mere human. Who had no power what so ever. Who was fragile and breakable and was so aware of it. _Who stood right in front of a fucking powerful druid to defend her friend and didn’t even flinch from the threat anyway._              
If Stiles had been a werewolf, Derek would have been conflicted over protecting his pack and asking Stiles to become part of it right there. But Jennifer had deserved all that had been thrown in her face, all of what Derek had said. She had blown their cover in front of human kids they had only met a month ago or so. Just like that.              
He didn’t want to leave yet. He wouldn’t admit it, but he kind of had fun with their new acquaintances, though they wouldn’t have guessed it. He mostly liked them because his pack was happier since they got around (except for Jennifer). And for all he acted like he didn’t, he had started to find Stiles somewhat funny. He had a wit that he hadn’t often come across, and all the talking Stiles made could be dizzying, but when you listened closely, you would realize he had depth to his thought and that his ADD made him see a way bigger picture than you would, just by picking up on too many details.  
And maybe, just _maybe,_ had Derek started find him kind of cute. Maybe his eyes were way prettier than he had previously thought, with the long lashes and their whiskey color and the fact that they were so big Stiles sort of looked like Bambi (yes he knew who Bambi was but would not admit it under any circumstances). Also, those moles on Stiles pale skin were very eye catching and Derek had found himself staring at one of them way more often than what was normal for him. In fact staring at Stiles face since the start of their dealings had almost became a habit, but nobody had really picked up on it yet, thought he suspected Erica wasn’t too oblivious about it anymore. She knew that Derek, even if he wasn’t a sociable person, was never rude to the point he was with Stiles some of the time and that when it happened, it was because Derek was uneasy about something. At that moment, he resented being surrounded by people who could sniff your moods all the time because, if he thought about the fact that Erica told him he smelled contented after he had brought Stiles home safely from their bowling game, well se obviously knew what was going on and would probably be meddling soon if she thought she had to.

Reaching his bedroom, Derek sighed. He felt like things were slowly getting out of hands and, if he was right, it would make his responsibilities as an alpha way harder than they already were.          
He could at least comfort himself with the fact that Stiles had been staring back at him earlier,, and that he had reeked of attraction while doing so. It was a good start.

 

.*.*.*.*.

 

Scott and Stiles had taken the time to explain everything to their frightened friends, with Kira’s help, after they had left the house. Isaac hadn’t said a word for all the five minute of walking it had taken them to reach the Stilinski-McCall household and, for her part, Lydia had just stared at Stiles and Kira, opening and closing her mouth on questions she didn’t dare to ask. Allison and Danny, on the other side, were asking all sort of very loud and obnoxious questions, being a bit too much on that side of drunk. Stiles had to tell them to shut up once they got in the house and brought them in the basement, hoping their parents wouldn’t hear them, since they were almost shouting and it was the middle of the night.              
Once in the basement, they told them what they needed to know, revealing that Scott was also a recently turned werewolf, and made them swear not to talk about it to anyone. _Ever_.     
They took it better than what Stiles had expected. Allison, who had finally sobered up, sworn solemnly to keep the secret like she was in court; Danny just shrugged it off; Lydia started asking many questions but was cut off by Stiles who assured her another time would be a better time. He was surprised but grateful when she just accepted it. Finally, Isaac stared at Scott like he was some sort of revelation but didn’t say anything other than that he would never betray them.     
Then, everybody got up to get home, Lydia and Danny taking Danny’s car while Allison and Isaac took Allison’s. When they were all gone, the three others went back in the basement where they dropped on the couch, finally able to breathe again.

“It could have been worse” Stiles said in an attempt to lighten the mood. Kira smiled at him while Scott complained he wanted nothing more than his bed at the moment.

“I thought something would catch fire any second” Scott whined.

“Feel you buddy” Stiles replied, putting his hand on Scott’s arm.

Scott closed his eyes and stretched his whole body and Kira took the opportunity to kiss his cheek. His eyes shot right opened and the dopiest, stupidest grin split his face.             
“Or I may prefer to spend time doing stuff like that with you” he said to Kira.

She blushed but shrugged, a smile slowly blossoming on her face, which was Stiles cue to leave his bro some quality time with his lady fox. He stood up and bid them good night, but just as he got to the stairs, a question rose in his mind.

“Kira?” He called. She lifted her face from Scott’s, interrupting their almost first kiss to see what the matter was. “Is Derek gonna do something about Jennifer?” He inquired.

She paused a moment to think about it.       
“Yeah… he’s probably gonna threaten to cast her out of the pack…” she sighed. It didn’t look like something that was pleasing her. “She’s always causing problems and attracting the danger we are trying to avoid…” she then took on herself to talk to them about the hunters and other supernatural beings (she wasn’t very specific about which ones) that weren’t very friendly toward their kind.

Stiles thought about that for a second, but Scott was the one to ask the right question.             
“If that’s how it is, isn’t she a danger for your pack?”

She sighed again “Yes… yes she is, actually”.

“And how come she’s still in your pack?” Stiles wondered aloud, “Do you even trust her?”

At that, Kira’s face sort of melted into a mixture of angry and sad.                     
“No we don’t. But Derek…” she paused at that. She seemed to weight whether it was a good idea or not to say whatever she was going to say out loud. “He can’t leave people behind… if he casts her out, she’s going to be back where he found her and I can assure you, you don’t want that…” she admitted.

That had the boys’ eyes grow with questioning looks. Scott took on him to word the next question.

“What was she like? Was she that bad?”

If it hadn’t been for the genuine concern in Scott’s voice, Kira would probably not have answered that, from the look she had on her face. She took a deep breath and spoke so low Stiles almost didn’t hear it.

“She went crazy… nobody can say how it happened to her. But in her craze, she killed Derek’s entire family. Burned them alive in their own houses… Only Derek and his little sister Cora got out of it”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You've been very patient and I hope that, at least, this chapter is worth the über long wait...


	4. Two is coincidence...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was meant to be a fun treck inthe woods.

So…     
Maybe Derek Hale’s past was a little bit dramatic. Maybe it brought Stiles more sympathy for the man. Maybe…           

But! That wasn’t excusing anything. In fact, just the fact that Derek had forgiven Jennifer and actually took her under his wings made Stiles cringe. Kira had explained that Jennifer had been manipulated at the time and was totally repentant of what she had done. Which was fine, if it was even true. He had voiced his doubts, but Kira told him that a werewolf ear was able to pick up any sound of an accelerating heartbeat or the scent of guilt, which was quite sour, if she had to say so herself. And Stiles had been a breath away from arguing, until Scott not so discreetly threw him out so he could spend time alone with Kira – and probably because she had started to be uncomfortable about the whole conversation –.         
So Stiles went to his room with many thoughts, like the fact that many people had beaten lie detectors by not giving a shit about what they had done, or were so good at lying that they never hesitated anymore and never felt anything about it. Stiles had seen enough criminal reports and interviews of psychopaths to distrust Jennifer after what he’d been told.

The next morning, Erica sent him a text saying she had invited everyone to go to the Preserve so that they could talk, maybe see what would happen next and also apologize for the fact that shit went down the night before. He could easily imagine how the Hale pack must be anxious about being discovered and if Kira had stayed the night, she might have forgotten to text them how they had dealt with it like grownups.        
But hey! Actually, some bond strengthening activity might still be a good idea. Show those who might be scared that they had nothing to fear and also, not waiting was for the best if they wanted to make sure they could trust Stiles’ friends (which of course they could, but well, he wouldn’t put it past Lydia to bargain with them just to have power over them. Sometimes, Lydia was scarier than what Stiles had seen of werewolves so far).           
They didn’t get to actually go before the evening though because many sported hangovers and had mostly slept all day (Stiles included). So it wasn’t exactly dark when they arrived but almost. And a surprise was waiting for Stiles when he got there – he and Scott were the last ones to arrive because Scott was a heavy sleeper and had refused to wake up until Stiles actually punched him in the nose –: the man from the library looking at him with a smug smile, probably because Stiles’ face melted when he saw the dude.           
The guy was standing beside Derek dramatically, like he was posing for Vogue or something, and beside him, Derek looked already pissed, which would’ve been funny if Stiles hadn’t felt the same.             
He quickly parked, got out of his jeep faster than the light and advanced on Derek,  while Scott made a beeline for Kira like they hadn’t been together three hours ago, pointing to the other guy and asking “what is he doing here?”, which made one of Derek’s eyebrow rose and the man’s smirk widen.

“You know Peter?” Derek enquired, a little surprised.

“Well, _Peter_ spent some quality time creeping around me the other so, yeah…  I know him but I would rather not…” he said anxiously, not feeling safe under Peter’s stare, even with all the werewolves around. “Who the hell is this guy, anyway?” he asked because there had to be an obscure reason why he was there, other than being creepy.

Peter chose that moment to intervene and extend a hand to Stiles, who took a step back and eyed it warily.      
“Peter Hale” Peter said, which, _oh_ , thought Stiles. That made sense, but not really. “As I can see, you’re as thrilled as I am to meet” he added when Stiles still wouldn’t take his hand. He put it back in his pocket. “I assume you are Stiles” he said and, ok, he didn’t like the fact the he already knew Stiles name at all.

“Yup, that’s me… good ol’ Stiles” he replied nervously, gesturing to his own body. He then turned back to Derek and added “can you just keep him as far away from me as possible, please” and with that he left to join Erica and Isaac, who were further away, climbing a tree. He missed the way Derek’s mouth twitched upward with amusement upon seeing Peter’s own smirk melt into a thin line of annoyance.

With that, they started up on the plan, which was to go as far as possible into the forest, without anyone getting lost, obviously, so that they could discuss werewolf business without any unconcerned party overhearing them.        
At first, Stiles was hanging with Allison, Lydia and Isaac at the front, the three indulging themselves into a sarcastic banter about what were the real specificities of being a werewolf, based on books and television, which brought Erica and Boyd to join them sometimes later. When it switched to another topic, Stiles casted a glance behind and saw that Scott and Kira were the farthest ones behind, while Jennifer and Peter were in an animated discussion about whatever just in front them, which left Derek creeping a bit behind the front group, alone. Even though he knew it wasn’t a good idea, based on the last time he did it, Stiles decided it was a sad sight and let Derek catch up to him so they were walking side by side.

“So...” he started “how come we haven’t seen Peter at your house before? I thought you only had a younger sister.”             
He glanced sideways at Derek to see how his question was welcomed and saw his face contorting into a sour expression.

“Who…?” he started asking, but then his head turned to the back to watch Kira and Scott already behaving like a sweet couple. He sighed and disregarded the part about his sister “Because he wasn’t invited but took the decision to stay anyway” he grumbled, clearly pissed about that.

“Well, mark this day because this is our first time sharing any sentiments on any subject ever…” Stiles sighed. “Isn’t there any way to make him leave? I don’t really trust him…  can’t say why… beside him being creepy and looming in the dark way more than even you could”

That won him an unamused look from the alpha, which distracted him and made him trip on a root that he hadn’t seen with his weak human eyesight. But instead of face planting in the grass, his arm got caught by a firm hand and he was pulled slowly away from the ground and closer to a firm chest.

“I don’t know how humans can survive without seeing anything…” Derek muttered as he let go of Stiles’ arm.

A Stiles who was stunned by the fact that Derek hadn’t just let him eat some dirt and taken advantage of the opportunity to laugh at him. He was slowly starting to think he was too fast on judging the guy.             
Then he made two more steps and tripped on another root and this time, Derek watched him fall before following the rest of the group, and Stiles could have sworn he heard him snicker. Scott picked him up when he walked by him with Kira, both barely maintaining a serious face. Stiles went on as if nothing had happened, what with being used to tripping on any surface and all.      
He was at least glad he hadn’t said thank you.

Sometimes later, they reached a vast clearing and they naturally went in the middle where there already was a fire pit and some wood and they started a fire to make some light before the sun was completely down. While everyone else was helping, Peter and Derek went into the woods for a while, probably checking the clearing’s vicinity to see if it was clear of any intruders, or maybe just talk if Derek’s still annoyed face was any indication. Jennifer also went after them, likely because she couldn’t get separated from Derek for long and that she didn’t want to help the others, Stiles thought. They got it done pretty quickly since the supernatural creatures didn’t bother hiding their speed anymore and they wanted to reach the interesting when their alpha would be back.           
They sat around the pit and waited for the three others to come back, talking about nothing and anything to try to diffuse the slight tension that they all could feel, even the humans. It got Stiles antsy after a while of not seeing the others coming back so he got up and started pacing a bit further away from the others, knowing it would get on the nerves of everyone except Scott, and probably Allison. As he paced, he got flashes of what Kira had told them the night before about Jennifer and he got even more nervous, imagining that Peter and her were out there trying to kill Derek. Then he remembered that he hated the guy so he tried to brush it off and think of something else. After a moment, Scott started throwing glances his way, proving he was staying away a bit too long and that his nervousness was getting noticeable to those who had strong senses. Then Isaac got up claiming he was going to take a piss and, when he brushed against Stiles, he put a hand on his shoulder and gave him an insistent glare, inciting him to calm down, then made his way into the woods just as Derek got out, followed by Peter and Jennifer a moment later. That had Stiles let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding and, in return, it made Derek raise one single brow his way, which could certainly translate as a questioning glance. Stiles just went back without acknowledging it, a bit embarrassed about being worried for the guy.

He sat beside Erica because it was the only available spot that didn’t put him close to the evil trio and also because she had not so subtly gestured for him to get his ass over there. Jennifer and Peter sat down on either sides of Derek and then he gazed intently at everyone around the fire until they were silent.

“So… we can either kill you or not. What will you chose?” Derek declared, dead serious. The somewhat muted tension rose up right then and Scott got up, eyes shining gold and claws out, ready to protect his friends.

That was when Erica got up with a sigh and put a hand over Derek’s chest, intimating him to sit down. “Jesus, you’re so bad with words it’s pathetic” she told him, which took every new acquaintances of hers aback. “So, basically, what he means is that we need to know if our secret is safe with you but Derek here abhor the idea of words coming out of his mouth unless they sound like threats…” she deplored, giving him a pitying look.

Stiles, who was trying to pull Scott back on his log took on him to do the talking, since that was what he did best. “Well, Kira told us most of what we needed to know yesterday and we pretty much agreed that we didn’t care about what you were as long as you didn’t try to kill us. So there’s that…” he replied, grinning at her the same way she did at him at the moment. After a second or two, he added “Though I wish we could do something about creepy Uncle Peter’s presence over there”, pointing at the implied person who flashed his blue eyes at him. That got him a laugh out of Erica and that was when he realized two things, first that he and Erica were quickly become great friends and also that Isaac hadn’t come back yet.     
“By the way, can you tell me where’s Isaac now? He’s been gone for a while”

And just like that, every back strengthened again. He could see werewolves and _kitsune_ alike scenting the air to trace his friend and saw in Scott’s face that something was very wrong. “Scott” he called “what is it?”

“Isaac” Scott replied as he got up and started to change into his furry self, followed by the other supernatural beings “and blood”.

And with that, everyone was on its feet, ready to go find Isaac ASAP.      
Scott started running toward the east of the clearing but the Hale pack ran past him in no time, all claws and magical fire out. It took the humans maybe fifteen minutes before they got to where the others were headed and what they found had most of them take a step back. Isaac’s shirt was ripped and his pants were still down on his butt; he had bite marks all over his body and he was curled up on himself, crying. The members of the Hale pack and Scott were scattered around him, clearly uncomfortable with the situation and not trusting this newly bitten, somewhat scarred boy.

Probably because they were stupidly unafraid and more concerned about their friend than anything, it only took one look exchange between them before Allison and Stiles were both on Isaac: Allison taking one of Isaac’s curled hand, her other hand resting lightly on his face, giving him some soothing touch while Stiles covered him with his flannel and put a hand on his calf, rubbing it with his thumb.          
Once Isaac lifted his face and saw Allison’s, his face crumbled more than it already had and he lifted his body just enough so that he could clutch to her like a buoy.

Seeing the distress clearly on Isaac’s face was probably what got Scott out of his numb state and made him rush over to Isaac too, unconsciously moving Stiles out of the way, like he had a mission and knew exactly what he had to do. That was when he put his hand where Stiles’ had been not two seconds ago and his vein gradually started to turn black, which had Erica whistle lowly.

“Damn, he learns fast” she admitted, clearly baffled by what she saw.

“What is he doing?” Stiles heard Lydia ask in a voice he knew was the one she had when she was taking mental notes of every things happening.

That was when Derek stepped in, doing the same thing Scott was doing by gripping Isaac’s other calf, “He’s taking the pain away. Usually it takes a long time for bitten werewolves to master that talent” he taught them.

After that they went back to their cars, Stiles announcing to everybody that Isaac would sleep at his place that night and that it was a non-negotiable avenue. To almost everyone’s surprise, Derek threw his car keys at Boyd, bringing an envious light into Erica’s eyes, and he climbed in the front seat of the Jeep while Scott and Allison sat in the back of the car with the wounded.

They didn’t wait to see Jennifer’s murderous glare at them before she climbed in the Camaro or the amused look on Peter’s face before he took off into the woods, Stiles tearing away as fast as legally possible to put as much distance as he could between Isaac and the woods, his surprise at Derek’s incursion quickly replaced by numb panic that had him focus on the road like in a dream. Nobody spoke a word until they made it safely on their street, except for soothing words directed toward Isaac when he started to get frantic.         
The minute the car was parked Scott and Allison were out, taking Isaac inside as quickly and smoothly as they could, while Stiles stayed in his seat, gripping the wheel tightly. He took slow deep breath to calm himself down and was so absorbed in trying to control his emotions he didn’t realize Derek hadn’t completely gotten out of the car until he started angrily hitting his dashboard and he heard the werewolf call his name.

When he looked up and saw Derek staring at him with a straight face, it enraged Stiles even more. He got out of the car, slammed the door shut without even wincing at the weird sound his car made and stormed toward the house.             
“Thanks for coming with us” he threw over his shoulder at an obviously stunned alpha werewolf “hope the show was entertaining enough for you superior taste” and with that he closed the door and forgot about Derek and even his anger at himself to go and take care of his second newly werewolf friend.

 

.*.*.*.*.

 

The following day was horrible. Unlike Scott, Isaac didn’t react well to what had happened to him. First because he had been sober, which hadn’t been Scott’s case, which meant Isaac lived the experience to its fullest. He also didn’t have the chance to have Stiles, or anybody else, with him to at least try and prevent the attack. Isaac was also emotionally fragile for a different reason: he was abused by his father since his brother had died.  Stiles, Scott and Alisson had tried to convince him many times to talk about it or report the abuses, but Isaac had never wanted to hear it and, the more they insisted, the more he kept his distances from them and stayed home, with his father, which brought many more bruises than he usually sported. They had taken on themselves to shelter him more often than not and find as many ways as possible to keep him safe until he was ready to free himself. But all that violence he lived on a daily basis made it impossible for him to deal with any sort of violence in general and made him mostly scared of every sudden movement. So when he woke up, all his senses heightened and his instincts fully awakened, he partially shifted in Stiles room. Stiles had fallen asleep in his desk chair and that was the only thing that prevented him from being clawed at on the spot. The only hint he got that he had to get out of the room were the heavy breaths - which sounded more like dog growls - that had him wake up. He let his gut take the lead and he was out of his room just before he heard something slam against the door.             
At least, he had fallen asleep all dressed up which meant his phone was still in his pocket and he didn’t waste time, he shouted out Scott’s name, -who go his head out of his room and whose eyes grew wide when he heard Isaac slam his body against the door once again-, and called Kira, whom he didn’t even allow to say a word, immediately urging her to “give the phone to Derek. NOW” before he heard something being ripped inside the bedroom.

It took seconds and then a “What is it?” resonated into Stiles’ hear and he let out a sigh of relief.

“Dude. I have to say this is the first time I’m glad to hear your voice… Listen: Isaac is losing it. He’s destroying my room and it won’t take long before I’m on the menu and nobody wants to see my limbs in Isaac’s mouth so pleaaase get your ass over here and help me deal with this shit because as much as Scott is a werewolf, he doesn’t have a clue of how to deal with this and you do so hurry up!”

And, without even replying, Derek hung up, only to be at their door step less than two minutes later, pretty much when Isaac got enough of the room and barreled out of it, breaking the door off its hinges.         
The alpha didn’t lose time, he got inside the house without even knocking, jumped from the first to the second floor and instinctively pushed Stiles out of harm’s way, trying to contain Isaac and hinting at a gaping Scott to help him. Both of them ended up managing to hold him down quickly and Derek even pulled an “alpha-roar” to get him to calm down, which mostly worked. But it wasn’t until Stiles had enough of it and just circled Isaac’s shoulders and tried to verbally calm him that he completely came back to himself. Both Scott and Derek finally let him go so he could clutch to Stiles and let himself be reassured, Scott, and Allison who apparently had slept in Scott’s room and had watched everything from the door, also joining in a moment later. When everything got calm again, Derek kind of forced the two newly bitten lycanthropes to get their asses to his house so he could properly talk to them about their new condition, which he should’ve taken the time to some time ago, Stiles thought.

Stiles didn’t get properly invited, the invitation given to him sounding more like a “stay home for fuck’s sake”, so instead, after Allison took off as well to go see Lydia, he took his car and went for a ride to change his ideas. He rode it for a while, doing rounds around the city to see if anything seemed abnormal and, when, as he had expected, nothing seemed out of ordinary, he set out to the Beacon Hills city park to get some fresh air.     
He took a stroll around, scanning the place and the people, trying to get a hint from anything, when he got grabbed by the arm. For a second, he went on alert mode and his guts told him that Peter had found him and was ready to kill him, which made no sense since, aside from being a creepy old man, he hadn’t done anything _yet_ to make Stiles that wary of him. His doubt were proved right when realized the person who had grabbed him was in fact a blind man, who looked around Peter’s age but hey, the guy was blind so he couldn’t be dangerous, right?

“I’m sorry young man, would you mind helping me toward to closest bench” the man asked politely, his accent really strong.

Stiles accepted right away, because helping a blind mind would at least take his mind off his actual, really _weird_ , problems and well, did he really have a choice?        
But somehow, as he helped the man, he was uneasy. Something seemed off to him and he couldn’t get his finger on it. The man started to talk about the weather and the people around and when they finally reached the bench, the man’s hand gripped him tightly and when Stiles started feeling the pointy tip of something in his arm, he realized what was wrong.

“Why is it me again?” he wondered aloud with a sigh. “Are you, at least, really blind?” he asked, because if the guy –the werewolf guy- was at least really blind, Stiles would be able to console himself about being fooled by yet another furry middle aged man.         
“Most of the time, yes” said the man, a small amused smile growing on his face “although, even without my sight, I see more than any of my kind or yours would ever see”.      
Then he sat down and pulled Stiles on the bench with him. “I’m really sorry for my rough manners” said the man, releasing his grip, “but you smelled so much of fear I was afraid you would flea without giving me a chance to talk to you, Stiles”.

Stiles got up the moment his arm was free, but upon hearing the words of the man, he just stood there, facing him, eyeing him suspiciously.          
“Can you blame me?” Stiles asked him “I mean… the best way to approach someone without making him wary is by being upfront… people who make themselves smaller tend to hide things, yunno…”

The last words made the man’s smile grow wider. He gave Stiles a somewhat sheepish but dangerous smile and said “I’m really sorry about that, Stiles, but you must know that I can’t just go around and introduce myself as a werewolf…” before extending the hand that had been holding his cane so far and introducing himself “my name is Deucalion”.

Stiles thought about taking the hand, wondering if maybe he was too hasty in judging the supernatural creatures that ambushed him, considering Deucalion wasn’t wrong when he said they had to be cautious around mere humans.             
But then again, his guts were telling him something was amiss and most of the time they were right.

Crossing his arms over his chest, he started questioning this Deucalion.

“What do you want and how do you know my name?”

The extended hand went down on the cane again, but the smile stayed the same.             
“Well, I can see you are a sensible young man” teased the werewolf “I can understand why you would be untrusting, but you should be aware that standing up to an alpha could make you in more danger than trying to lend an ear to him”. The way Stiles’ eyes grew slightly wider didn’t go unseen by the man and he chuckled silently. “Don’t worry Stiles; I’m not here to hurt anyone. I am merely passing by Beacon Hills in search of something…”

“Well, I wonder what you’re looking for in Beacon Hills because the only rare species of anything I’ve heard of so far are werewolves and you can’t really collect people if I recall. Unless you’re an 18th century type of guy” Stiles babbled, growing more uneasy by the second.         Probably because, by that time, Deucalion’s smile had grown wider, showing all of his teeth, which looked really sharp and _unhidden_ at the moment.   
Deucalion took off his glasses and bent a little bit forward, locking his bright red eyes with Stiles’. “You’re way closer to the answer than you seem to realize” Deucalion cryptically said, “You should reflect on that idea of yours, I’ll see you again soon.”

And, with that, Deucalion put his glasses back on, got up and extended his hand again, startling Stiles so much that he took it without thinking, and left a card in his hand before strolling off in the general direction of the forest.             
Too curious to wait, Stiles looked at the card to see that it had the name of the Temple written in the same showy font as on the sign of their usual bar on one side, and on the other there was Deucalion’s name in big golden letters and his phone number with “owner” in small letters just above it.

“Well, shit…” Stiles swore before cramming it in the right pocket of his hoodie and running back to his car.

He had a lot to discuss with the others.

 

.*.*.*.*.

 

He had texted Scott to make sure of where he was and was kind of glad he was still at Kira’s; it meant that if he was being followed, he wouldn’t lead anyone straight to his place where his father, the **Sheriff,** was living, unaware of anything related to magical creatures from fairytales and way better off without it.          
He got to the enormous house and didn’t even bother to knock. He didn’t have time for that and he honestly couldn’t give a shit about it. Nevertheless, he had to stop himself quite abruptly when he realized there were no sounds in the house and he didn’t know where the werewolves were.        
He randomly guessed they might be in the courtyard and went that way, since it was the only part of the house he really had seen other than the toilets. When he got to the kitchen, where the door to the backyard was, he found Peter sitting down alone at the table, his hands clasped together and a mischievous smile plastered on his face.

“Well, Peter!” Stiles exclaimed, showing an obviously fake happy expression “what did I do this time to deserve your creepy smile?” he asked, not really in the mood for another weird encounter with a middle aged man. “Can you tell me where your adorably broody nephew and my friends are?”

Instead of answering the question, Peter dramatically got up and said “well, I can smell you made a new friend today, Stiles. How was Deucalion?”

That had Stiles pause for a moment and stare at Peter in bewilderment. That was hardly a coincidence and that didn’t make Stiles feel safe at all.

“DEREK!” Stiles cried, not even ashamed to so obviously call for help.    
In an instant, Derek was in the kitchen, looking confused by why he had even been called for. Then Derek inhaled and his iris turned to crimson red while his claws started to pierce out of his nails.            
Derek barely let out a furious swear before he turned right back into the house where he had come from, making a beeline for the front door. Stiles didn’t wait around, he went after Derek and caught Derek’s arm just as he started crossing the road.        
“Fuck, Derek, wait!” Stiles shouted, pulling Derek back on the sidewalk. He was instantly pushed away and fell on the ground, startled by Derek’s reaction. Derek who was then marching straight onto him, almost all wolfed out.

“Where is Deucalion? Where is he?” the werewolf asked through clenched teeth, his voice sounding abnormal in mid-shift. “What were you doing with him?” he then asked in an angry and suspicious tone.

Stiles had raised his hands while trying to get back on his feet, intending to appease Derek’s anger. “Calm the fuck down, Derek. He left in the woods after hinting at me he wanted a new pack and that he probably wants me in it” he pleaded. “Who the fuck is this guy?”

This revelation triggered Derek even more and rendered him completely still, eyes fixed on Stiles as if he was seeing him for the first time. Then, faster than Stiles could see, Derek caught him by the neck and dragged him back inside, startling everyone in the house who was watching the “show”. They bypassed them all and Stiles only got released once Derek threw him in the shower and the water was running down his fully clothed body. “Get that stench off” Derek told Stiles before slamming the door as he left the room with a Stiles completely traumatized in it.          
Too stunned to really get a hold of what just had happened, Stiles stripped off his clothes and quickly washed his body. He turned the water off just as he heard the door open up again. “I brought you your clothes” was all that was said to him and then Derek left the room again. That should have made Stiles a bit annoyed that Derek had broken into his house again, but he was just glad Derek hadn’t stayed in the room. He dressed up quietly and closed the toilet lid before he sat on it to process the events of the past hour.  
He didn’t move for a while, just catching his breath, and then, predictably, Derek came back in the room, avoiding his eyes. “Have you calmed the fuck down?” Stiles asked him, having mostly decided that pissed was a better emotion than scared the shit out.        
Without uttering a sound, Derek went into his personal space -“again” Stiles thought with frustration- seized both of Stiles’ arms and put his face right in the crook of Stiles neck, which dispelled Stiles annoyance to replace it with bewilderment. As Derek took a big, deep sniff in Stiles’ neck, Stiles himself muttered “talk about a turnaround…” which broke the fucked up spell that had gotten Derek so weird and made him take three steps back faster than the light.

“Sorry…” Derek first attempted, seeming more at loss for words than usual. “It’s just… that smell…” he sighed, failing a second time. “Just… stay away from Deucalion. That guy is bad news” he finally said, adding no justification for what had happened.             
But Stiles didn’t really need to know the reasons for the advice because he himself wasn’t the trusting kind and that Deucalion was far from looking trustworthy, even the blindness thingy going on.

They both got out of the bathroom at the same time and Stiles saw that he had a reception committee in the form of his friends, Scott, Isaac and Erica, and of others, a.k.a. Peter and Jennifer, the latter finally showing herself up.             
“Well, I think the show is over” Stiles declared “bye then” he said just before darting for the door, without so much as a glance back at any of them. Scott and Isaac followed him back to the Stilinski-McCall house and the three of them went downstairs to play some video games while avoiding the big elephant in the room.

That night, Stiles couldn’t sleep really well.


	5. Hit the road Jack!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Turns out this new friendship between the Beacon Hills residents and the Hale pack was shakier than it appeared.

Since Stiles had left the house, everyone, but especially Derek, had been kind of agitated. Well, except for Peter, who found enjoyment in the general agitation. And Jennifer, who couldn’t care less about the events of the day, especially since Stiles was involved. Most of the pack members had calmed down by the time dinner was ready, but Derek was still as unsettled as before. Unable to keep his cool, he had ended up going to his room where he had been pacing back and forth for a while. He was later joined by Erica who looked like she took some fun out of his state.

“You know, if I tell you ‘you’ll make a hole in the floor if you go on like this’, it won’t just be a way of speaking” she teased him as she bypassed him and dropped on his bed. “Do you want to talk about it?”

The question seemed to reel Derek even more as he turned around and stared at her in confusion. “Talk about what” he countered defensively.

This made her grin turn into the wicked smile that always made Derek uneasy.      
“Why, Derek? Are you going to tell me you haven’t been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty Stiles can bestow?”

Derek’s stilled at her word and he then proceeded to recover his composure quickly and act as if it wasn’t, in fact, a big deal. “So you caught up on that” he simply replied.

Mimicking him, Erica raised a single eyebrow at his remark before she went on with her interrogation.

 “Are you going to act on it or will I have to take the guy for myself?”

Giving her the reaction she had not been expecting, Derek just looked at her with a withering gaze. “We’re going to leave Erica. I’m not going to attach myself to a spastic nobody because I find him kind of funny and cute” he announced in a dismissing tone, even though just thinking about leaving Stiles behind was upsetting him way more than he would admit to her.

Erica stared at him for a moment, dumbfounded. “What are you talking about? Why the fuck would we be leaving? We made friends for the first time since the fire! What is the problem?”

He sighed, painfully aware of the fact that, for once, most of the pack seemed happy about their location and their new acquaintances. It made it harder for him to keep his positions on the matter.

He took a deep breath “there’s… something here. I don’t know if we woke it up or if it’s always been here, but the magic here is strong and it seems to be wanting to attract more of us, like Peter or Deucalion, and I don’t feel good about what may come out of it…”

Erica didn’t seem convinced as she looked at him with uncertainty. “You cannot be basing this decision on your feelings only… you love this house, Derek! You were actually _smiling_ when you bought it!” At that point, she was pointing an accusatory finger at him. “You **never** smile!”

He ran a hand through his hair. He had actually wanted to avoid divulging the other, more important, reason for their nearing departure. He wanted to at least kind of part on good terms with their Beacon Hills friends. But just thinking about what he saw made him so angry that Erica saw the change of expression on his face before he could prevent it. “You won’t be happy” he allowed, admitting by his words that there was more to it than he wanted to let her know.

Then he started talking.

 

.*.*.*.*.

 

He should have been expecting another visit from Creepy-Blind-Killer-Machine but he hadn’t, so he almost got a heart attack when he got out of his jeep in front of the police station, intending to visit his father, and was stopped from moving from the parking by a cane on his chest.

“Why are you so nervous, young man?” Deucalion asked, seeming like he was enjoying the reactions he got out of the teenager.

That got a sigh out of Stiles “Well, maybe it has something to do with all the old creepy furry guys that keep trying to get me in a corner before eating my heart out…”

He instantly regretted his choice of words because the face Deucalion made told him he hadn’t thought of that yet and Stiles had brilliantly given him the idea. The guy actually looked more wolfish for a moment and took the time to lick his lips, as if he was appraising a fancy meal. The swallowing sound Stiles made had probably been heard by even all the cops in the station.            
Deucalion lowered his cane before taking two steps toward Stiles, backing him up to his jeep with nowhere to run. He lowered his sunglasses, showing his glowing red eyes to Stiles, before whispering “Are you scared, mister Stilinski?”

Wanting to put on a brave front, Stiles simply stared into the Alpha’s eyes but his pulse must have betrayed him because a smile came back on Deucalion’s face. If Stiles had thought so far that, even unprepared for the encounter, he had kind of been ready for it; he wasn’t at all expecting what Deucalion said next. He had his mouth right beside Stiles’ ear and said “Would like not to be scared anymore?”

Dumbfounded, the only thing Stiles could answer with was “Are you trying to quote the new Karate Kid?” which, in turns, made Deucalion take a step back and look at Stiles like he had grown a second head. “Well, either that or you’re desperate because as much as I am an awesome and extremely intelligent person, I’m not entirely sure I’m really the werewolf material you’re looking for. Not that I wouldn’t be great or scary or anything, but seeing how your face is literally melting right now because of all the talking, I would say I’m right” he finished in a concerned tone, because, really, where did that come from?

During Stiles’ rambling, Deucalion had started to frown like his plan wasn’t exactly going as planned. _Well, oops,_ thought Stiles.

“I propose to you the most incredible gift anyone could ever give to you and you laugh at my face?” the Alpha wondered out loud. He took a moment to take deep, calming breaths and then sighed. “Be glad you didn’t offend me, or the offer wouldn’t still be standing… and neither would you…” he growled at Stiles, **clearly** offended.              
But when had that ever deterred Stiles from opening his mouth?

“Well, you could’ve been threatening to kill me, so thanks for the vote of confidence in my canine abilities, but no thank you. As nice as it looks to grow fur and a healthy dose of testosterone, I’m not really interested in the whole servitude to your Alpha thing, especially since I don’t trust you at all… but the proposition is appreciated though.”

And with that, taking the opportunity of having once again confused the werewolf, he dug his key set into his purple hoodie’s pocket and started the alarm on his jeep, forcing Deucalion to back off, first because his sensible ears were suddenly attacked by an overwhelming noise and second because it would attract the attention of the police officers in the station. A minute or so later, Jordan Parrish, one of the newest deputies, who looked like he was born to be on a playgirl magazine rather than in a uniform, came running to them, looking at Stiles and wondering where the hell he had gotten a blind middle aged man.

“Stiles, could you please shut it off” Parrish asked not so kindly.

“Yeah, sorry…” Stiles answered, stopping it before looking straight into Deucalion’s eyes “I accidentally pressed the button while trying to tell this impaired man where he could find the closest toilets to take a shit but since you’re here, I’ll leave him to your gentle care while I go see my dad…”

And on that note, he left without giving Parrish a chance to protest, as fast as he could without running, wanting to put as much distance as possible between the werewolf and himself. The addition of armed civil servants who could defend him from Deucalion was also definitely a plus. Once he was inside, he made a beeline for his father office and before he could greet his dad, Parrish entered the office just behind him, looking a little perplexed by what had just happened. Although he didn’t say anything when he saw Stiles’ pleading look. He would probably ask questions later, but for the time being, he left the father and the son to their lunch.

 

.*.*.*.*.

 

Back home, Stiles was in the kitchen when the doorbell rang, so Scott ran to the front door to open it, expecting Kira since she hadn’t given any sign of being alive for the last few days already and he couldn’t keep himself from expecting her any minute. She was neither replying to his texts nor opening the door of her gigantic den –none of the Hale pack members were answering anymore, as a matter of fact, which was utterly disconcerting, especially since the three cars were still parked at their place.             
When he heard Isaac’s voice, Stiles knew Scott would have the same pitiful face he had been harboring for the last three days. Instead of focusing on him, he put his attention on Isaac, who was newly bitten, and gradually adjusting, just not as well as Scott.

“Hey, Isaac, how are you holding?” he asked. “Have you killed anyone yet?”

They both knew Stiles meant his father and was, in fact, partly hoping Isaac would do so. Isaac stared at him half amused half disgusted, a thing that was recurring in their friendship.          
Isaac raked a hand in his curly blond hair, seeming a bit anxious; as if there was something he wanted to say but couldn’t figure how to say it.

“What’s up?” Scott suddenly said, eyes fixed on Isaac like he was suddenly Scott’s enemy.         
Completely aware of what Scott was worried about these days and seeing how Isaac was fidgety, Stiles came to the conclusion that Scott hadn’t made the right one.

“So… what about we all sit down and you tell us what’s on your mind Isaac, before Scott tries to kill you when you probably just bumped into his bike or something, and didn’t steal Kira like he’s assuming right now…”

At the last part, Scott dropped his eyes, clearly guilty of those thoughts.

“Oh…” exhaled Isaac, clearly unaware of the situation in which Scott’s relationship was at that moment. “Well… I’m leaving” he said in an even tone.

Stiles raised an eyebrow _à la Derek_ and waited for what should be following that statement, but nothing came next so he took it on himself to clarify the situation.

“You’re leaving this house right now or what you want to tell us is that you are leaving the city? Are you eloping?”

“I’m not eloping, dumbass! Who am I gonna elope with in the first place?” Isaac replied in an upset tone. “I’m getting out of Beacon Hills tonight” he added with dramatic flair, which was somewhat exasperating to Stiles. At that, Scott lifted his head up quickly to give Isaac a look of confused little puppy.

“Where? Why? Your father kicked you out?” Scott asked earnestly, already preparing to offer a place to crash for a while.

“I’m going to L.A. and I’m not going alone…” their friend countered, his tone letting Stiles think there was a huge thing left out they needed to know.

This got a “You ARE eloping after all” out of Stiles while Scott got a little more concerned about the situation.              
“You’re not going with your father, right?” he asked, worried that Isaac would be too far from them to be able to protect him from his dad. Isaac only answered him by shaking his head from left to right. “Then who are you going with?” Stiles ended up asking after a pause, suddenly wary of what would come next out of his friend’s mouth.

Then, confirming Stiles bad feeling, the next words coming out of the blonde’s mouth were “a man named Deucalion”.

Simultaneously, Scott and Stiles both jumped to their feet, clearly startled by the announcement. While Stiles exclaimed “No you’re not”, Scott wondered “Who‘s that”, which startled Isaac in turn and made him curl a bit in his seat.       
Then, both curly haired boys turned to Stiles.

“What do you mean, I’m not?” Isaac asked a bit intrigued.

“Do you know him?” Scott added.

Turning to look at Scott instead of Isaac, who clearly had lost his mind, he said “Dude… Deucalion is the creepy blind werewolf who tried to recruit me…”

“What? You never told me about him!” Scott yelled, clearly offended, and then turning his overprotective brother switch on. “When did that ever happen? Where were you? Did he hurt you?”

“Scott, would you shut up please. Right now Isaac is the one planning to leave with the creepy guy, so maybe we should question him instead…”

“He might be a bit unsettling” the one concerned conceded “but he got my dad to let me leave without even trying to prevent it because he was too scared to do anything. That was so worth it and I’m really thankful for that. He told me the only thing he wanted in return was for me to be part of his pack…”

There, Stiles stopped him and said “And you don’t find that fishy?” granting himself a withering gaze from his visitor.

“Of course, Stiles, I find it fishy” Isaac sighed “but it’s the only opportunity I have to get as far away from my dad as I’ve ever been without him trying to hold onto me. I can leave now and never come back and just… forget about this hellhole…”

On that note, Isaac rose from his chair, uttered a single “bye” and left before either Scott or Stiles could move. They both knew that, either way, Isaac wouldn’t budge if he had really taken a decision. Scott concluded that it might, actually, turn out for the best, but Stiles had his doubts.       
To him, it sounded like Isaac had willingly switched jailor, thinking he might have found a lesser evil, and Stiles couldn’t think the same, no matter how horrid his father had been. The brothers looked out the window to see Isaac climb inside a car with a bald guy driving and Deucalion sitting next to him in the passenger seat, wearing his shades, as usual. It didn’t keep Stiles from feeling the man was staring right at him until the car left the front of the house.

After that Stiles got away from the window, asking Scott if he wanted to go run with him or something, thinking it would be best to get his bro out of the house for a while. When he didn’t get an answer, he turned back from where he was, calling his name again to get his attention, and saw that Scott was still looking by the window, his whole body tense.       
Curious and anxious, Stiles went back to his initial place to look at Scott, expecting a somewhat angry-territorial-wolfy face. He didn’t expect to see this confused, sad and hurt look on his face, while he was directly looking at the Hale house.

At first, Stiles didn’t see anything, but on looking harder two things became obviously obvious: first was the sign where a gigantic “FOR SALE” was written in red, second was that there were no more cars in the driveway.

“… What the actual fuck?” Stiles grunted, as surprised as his brother by the turn of events. He put a hand on Scott’s shoulder and forced him to look away, to face him instead “Scott, call her right the fuck now and ask her for an explanation at the very least! Don’t just stare at the house.”

It didn’t seem to shake Scott as he just stared blankly at Stiles without seeming to see him, like his whole mind was unoccupied. Angry at everything, Stiles shook his brother as hard as he could and started raising his voice.         
“Scott! She is **leaving**!” He exclaimed which did the trick and managed to get Scott’s soul back into his body and his attention back on Stiles “she didn’t tell you anything and she is leaving. Call her now or I swear I’m going to disown you and make you sleep in the fucking dumpsters for the rest of your life!”

“But” Scott weakly countered, but he was immediately cut off and once again told to call her and not show his face to Stiles unless he had heard anything from Kira.

Taking him to the word, Scott left Stiles in the living room and went upstairs into his bedroom. Once he heard the door close, Stiles almost ran out the door at lightning speed and went straight to the Hale house, as astonished as Scott had been.            
This was not possible. Why the fuck would their friends leave just like that? How could they just abandon them without saying a word? They were friends, right? Stiles hadn’t just imagined it. Why would Erica say nothing of it? He wouldn’t miss Jennifer for a second, but Erica, Kira and Boyd? It hadn’t been long since they had become friends but that didn’t mean he didn’t like them. Even Derek had sort of become a fixture Stiles was not _totally_ averse to. It was all so sudden and weird. Especially since neither Kira had contacted Scott nor did Erica contact him.

He started going around the house, shamelessly looking through every windows and was sending text messages to Erica, inquiring about their departure.

 

 **Stiles** : wtf?  why is the house on sale? where are you all? are you all leaving right now????

 **Erica** : we had to move away since you found us out…

 **Erica** : we’re going to LA

 **Stiles** : I call bullshit you said you didn’t need to leave since we were all fine with it

 **Stiles** : by the way make Kira at least fucking answer Scott for god’s sake

 **Erica** : don’t feel like it

 **Stiles** : ???????????? what’s up with you????

 **Erica** : bye Batman

 **Stiles** : ………….

 **Stiles** : wow

 **Stiles** : so much for our friendship…..

 **Stiles** : go fuck yourself on a cactus or something I don’t care anymore…..

 

He didn’t get any reply after that. Filled with sadness, anger and disgust, he blindly threw his phone as hard as he could and heard it crash, which seemed to bring him down a little.  
He had to go back home and see if Scott was fine. He picked up what was left of his phone, which was actually not as much as he expected and he had a second to be impressed at his strength before he left the now “for sale” Hale property and walked back to his place to find Scott spread on the couch, looking once more lifeless, staring at the ceiling like it held all the secrets of the melodrama they suddenly were in.              
Without a word, he went right beside him and laid down, switching into the same mode as his brother.

“Did she answer you?” He asked with a detached voice.

“Yeah…” Scott sighed.

“And?”

“She’s not coming back” he said in one breath.

“Do you know why?” Stiles pressed.

“…no…” Scott answered and then nothing more was said.

Stiles didn’t acknowledge the tears that were silently running down Scott’s cheeks, but he squeezed his shoulder and rubbed it with his thumbs for he couldn’t tell how long.

 

.*.*.*.*.

 

The news wasn’t taken that well by their friends: Lydia’s face had completely hardened when they had related all the events of the Hale pack departure. Allison just stared at them really confused, as if they had spoken to her in mandarin or something, and Danny had sat down for a moment, completely dumbstruck.             
They had vented their anger the only way young adults could: they went to their usual bar and got so wasted they all had to sleep through the next day to recover. After that they started talking about disclosing the secret of the Hale pack to everyone in the city, just in spite of them. They said bad things about them until there was nothing more to say and they had to accept the facts as they were: they had lost their friends. The sadness was harder to deal with and the five of them avoided the subject after they all reached the acceptance stage of their grief. Lydia, Allison and Danny got over the departure of the Hale pack faster than the brothers but were still mourning over Isaac’s, even though he contacted them almost every other day and seemed happier than he had ever been.

Almost three weeks later, as Scott and Stiles were still grieving their loss, both received invitations to go the L.A.: Scott from his father who wanted to see him since he was on vacation for the month of August and Stiles from Isaac, who missed them but couldn’t afford to have everyone over. He had also invited Allison, which meant that, at the very least, Stiles wouldn’t drive alone to the big city.

Scott was to leave a week prior to Stiles, but both were to see each other with Isaac and Allison so they weren’t too worried about being separated for a week. Still, all three of them were worried about meeting any of the Hale pack down there.

Because, if life had been so generous as to grant them an opportunity to go to L.A., surely they would meet them, right? And, even though no one would say it, all three feared the encounter as much as they were hoping for it.              
But they wouldn’t know until they got there.

At least, it was better than staying in Beacon Hills and darting spiteful gazes at the “On Sale” sign down the street. Honestly, it was more Stiles doing so than any other of his friends.

 “Here goes nothing” he sighed. Then he started his car and was on his way to Los Angeles, with the only stop : Allison’s house to pick her up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [EDITED ON 02/01/2018]  
> Oh my god guys I am SO SORRY! I re-read the whole thing and understand why lots of you didn't understand this chapter. It was shit. I wanted so badly to give you something because it had been so long since I last posted a chapter that I didn't take the time to do a second reading and oh boy should I have done it.  
> It's done, it's not really that better, I just made more sense out of this crap, but I'll give you something waaay better on chapter 6, which I started working on!  
> Love you all and, again, I'm really sorry!
> 
> Hey there, again I've taken so long to post another chapter and I'm sorry. It has been ready for at least six month but had to be corrected and I've been overwhelmed with life recently.  
> It's a bit short but the next one will compensate for it.
> 
> Love y'all and thanks for reading me!


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